The Translational and Experimental Skin Testing and Immune Tracing (TEST IT) Core, is Directed by Caroline Le Poole, PhD, co-directed by Associate Director, Kurt Q. Lu, MD. The Translational and Experimental Skin Testing and Immune Tracing Core focuses on the important relationship between keratinocytes and the skin immune system, and provides instrumentation and immunological assay services, as well as the unique opportunity for human testing in a controlled environment.
Find service descriptions below. Ordering is done through NU Core and cost information is available via our core price sheet.
Procurement of archival tissue for research purposes is a partnership between the Morphology and Phenotyping Core, the Dermatology Clinical Research Unit Translational Core under the direction of Core Advisor Dennis P. West, PhD, and the Dermatology - Dermatopathology Division, directed by Director Joan Guitart, MD. Archival tissue representative of skin disorders is available in snap-frozen OCT embedded samples and formaldehyde- and ethanol-fixed paraffin embedded blocks. De-identified tissue is provided to users with the following information: diagnosis, age of patient at the tissue collection, gender, lesional or non-lesional tissue, and location of collection.
Request Form
Additional requested medical record data elements, a brief summary of the proposed research, along with the quantity of each slide type, diagnosis requested, and any specific parameters must be detailed by the requestor in the Archival Tissue Request Form. Once completed the form should be submitted to the Morphology and Phenotyping Core Tissue Acquisition Coordinator, David Pease (SDRCtissuerequests@northwestern.edu), for review and approval by the Dermatology Review Committee. ("Dermatopathology Tissue Repository for Research", STU24696, PO: Dennis P. West, PhD, co-I: Joan Guitart, MD).
Procurement of fresh or frozen disease-specific tissue, blood and mucosa for research purposes is a collaboration between the TEST IT Core and the Dermatology - Clinical Research Unit Translational Core directed by Core Advisor Stephanie Rangel, PhD. Fresh tissue is available from the Fresh Tissue Biorepository for immediate researcher use or for processing, such as by the Skin Tissue Engineering and Morphology Core as cultured cells. Control skin samples are accrued from discarded tissue (e.g., abdominoplasty) or after IRB-approved patient consent (e.g. breast tissue after mammoplasty). De-identified tissue is provided to users with the following information: diagnosis, age of patient at the tissue collection, gender, lesional or non-lesional tissue, and location of collection.
Request Form
Additional requested medical record data elements, a brief summary of the proposed research, along with the quantity of each tissue type, skin disorder requested, and any specific parameters or handling procedures must be detailed by the requestor in the Fresh Tissue Request Form. Once completed, the form should be submitted to the TEST IT Core Tissue Acquisition Coordinator (SBDRC-TESTIT@northwestern.edu), for review and approval by the Dermatology Review Committee. ("Skin, Blood and Mucous Membrane Tissue Acquisition and Repository" IRB: STU9443, PI: Dennis P. West, PhD).
Core Leadership
Caroline Le Poole, PhD
Core Director
Professor of Dermatology and Microbiology-Immunology
Kurt Q, Lu, MD
Associate Core Director
Eugene and Gloria Bauer Professor of Dermatology
Stephanie Rangel, PhD
Director of Clinical Trial Unit, Dermatology
Research Assistant Professor of Dermatology
Contact Us
We welcome your interest in our core. Please contact us via the information below.
Cormac Cosgrove, PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Madeleine Belback
Tissue Acquisition Specialist