About Us
The Nervous System Tumor Bank (NSTB) was established in early 2014 in response to a growing need for access to high-quality biospecimens from glioblastoma (GBM) patients. The NSTB has since expanded to collect biospecimens from all types of brain and spinal cord tumor patients.
Sample Collection
We work closely with the neurological surgery team at Northwestern Memorial Hospital for each sample collection. We work with the surgical residents, attending physicians, anesthesiology, nursing staff, pathology teams and many others. This highly integrated environment allows our team to collect biospecimens in an efficient manner directly from the hospital.
NSTB Protocol
Our protocol prioritizes ongoing research projects here at Northwestern University that require fresh tumor tissue. This allows researchers access to highly valuable fresh tissue research specimens. Tumor tissue is also stored for future research projects as frozen tissue and formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks. These long-term storage samples are available to researchers outside of Northwestern as well. In addition to tumor samples, our biobank routinely processes and stores blood for peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma.
Contact Us
Simpson Querrey 6-500
303 E. Superior St.
Chicago, IL 60611
312-503-0977
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Voicemails are secure.
Acknowledging the NSTB
All publications produced with assistance from the NSTB must include the following statement in the Acknowledgements section: “The Northwestern Nervous System Tumor Bank is supported by the P50CA221747 SPORE for Translational Approaches to Brain Cancer.”