At Aurora Research Institute’s Biorepository and Specimen Resource Center (BSRC), we collect, store and provide biospecimens (samples of biological materials) for medical research and product development.
Our mission is to support research that may lead to new treatments or products and improve health care.
We store thousands of blood, blood products and tumor tissue specimens. When researchers need other biospecimens, such as urine, saliva, cardiovascular tissue or healthy tissue, our expert staff can find, collect and provide them too.
The biospecimens we store include:
Check out a story about the BSRC supporting a brain cancer study at Aurora on the CBS 58 website.
When people allow us to use their blood or other biospecimens for research and product development, we put safeguards in place to protect their privacy and keep their samples anonymous.
Our safeguards include:
Learn about BSRC research projects.
Across Aurora Health Care, we draw tens of thousands of tubes of blood every week as part of our normal testing and diagnosis procedures. Similarly, our active oncology surgery program removes tumors frequently.
When a surgeon removes a tumor, we keep samples of this tumor tissue for 10 years. This allows physicians to compare tissue if a new tumor develops and helps us determine the best treatments.
We collect consented biospecimens in several ways, including:
If you have any questions, contact us.
We work with researchers to collect and provide the high-quality biospecimens they need when they need them for their approved medical research and product development.
The advantages of working with BSRC include:
To apply for biospecimens for medical research or product development, complete the BSRC Request form (PDF download).