NSABP Foundation / NRG Oncology Biospecimen Bank relocates to Nova Place Campus

NSABP FOUNDATION / NRG ONCOLOGY BIOSPECIMEN BANK
RELOCATES TO NOVA PLACE CAMPUS

Norman Wolmark, MD, NSABP Foundation chair; Priya Rastogi, MD, NSABP Foundation CEO; and other leaders of the NSABP Foundation will be joined by Pennsylvania State Senators Jay Costa, Devlin Robinson, and Wayne Fontana; and Pat Halpin-Murphy, President/Founder of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and Gubernatorial Appointee to the Pennsylvania Cancer Advisory Board, to celebrate the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, May 23, 2024.

Dr. Wolmark stated “the relocation of our bank marks an exciting milestone for NSABP Foundation and NRG Oncology. The bank currently maintains one of the largest collections of annotated tumor tissue specimens in the United States. More than 1.3 million specimens from 100,000 patients serve as a resource to the scientific community for further research. This new facility affords us opportunities to apply leading edge technology in genomics and AI to improve the outcomes of our patients with breast and colorectal cancer.”

Senator Costa added, “As a board member of the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, I understand the importance of clinical trial research. The NSABP Foundation’s mission to identify and achieve opportunities for enhanced diagnostics through laboratory testing is paramount to help guide healthcare professionals in delivering the best treatments for individuals with cancer through practice-changing research.”

“The grand opening of the new lab location during the month of May is remarkable for coinciding with Mammography Month. I proudly co-sponsored Act 1 of 2023, Senate Bill 8, which eliminates all costs associated with breast MRIs, ultrasounds, and BRCA-related genetic testing and counseling for high-risk Pennsylvanians. The NSABP Foundation has a long history of creating better treatment options for patients with breast cancer, and I am pleased to be a part of this grand opening event of the new bank location,” said Senator Robinson.

Senator Fontana said “The continued growth and development of our community in Pittsburgh is reflected by the opening of NSABP’s new biospecimen bank location here on the Nova Place campus. I’m happy to support the longstanding impact this organization has had over 65 years with practice-changing clinical trial research for patients with breast and colorectal cancer.”

“The NSABP Foundation continues to be a pioneer in cancer care, contributing significant discoveries, clinical trials, treatments and testing for patients. Tissue samples from early NSABP studies were the foundation for the development of Oncotype DX® testing, which is now used worldwide. Oncotype testing assesses recurrence risk and predicts the benefit of chemotherapy for women with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Many women can avoid chemotherapy, thanks to this life-changing data. We are so fortunate to have the NSABP Foundation here in Pennsylvania, and as we open this new biobank, we anticipate critical advancements to come in our quest to cure this disease,” said PA Breast Cancer Coalition President and Founder Pat Halpin-Murphy.

The NSABP Division of Pathology/NRG Oncology Biospecimen Bank, located at the Federal North location since 2006, and previously housed on separate floors at Allegheny General Hospital, moved to the new 1,625 square foot facility at Nova Place earlier this year.

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About NSABP Foundation
The NSABP Foundation designs, implements, manages, and publishes the findings of clinical trials to improve the care of people with breast or colorectal cancer. We manage a network of over 700 clinical sites that enroll their patients into our clinical trials. Founded in 1958 as the legacy National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), our goal is to identify and achieve opportunities for enhanced diagnostics, more precise and less debilitating treatments, and to develop clinical strategies for the prevention of cancer for those who are at risk. To learn more and to support our mission, please visit www.NSABP.org.

About NRG Oncology
NRG Oncology conducts practice-changing, multi-institutional clinical and translational research to improve the lives of patients with cancer. Founded in 2012, NRG Oncology is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit corporation that integrates the research of the legacy National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) programs. The research network seeks to carry out clinical trials with emphases on gender-specific malignancies, including gynecologic, breast, and prostate cancers, and on localized or locally advanced cancers of all types. NRG Oncology’s extensive research organization comprises multidisciplinary investigators, including medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, physicists, pathologists, and statisticians, and encompasses more than 1,300 research sites located world-wide with predominance in the United States and Canada. NRG Oncology is supported primarily through grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is one of five research groups in the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network. www.nrgoncology.org