Center Initiatives
DF/HCC Strategic Initiatives
Pathology Specimen Locator
Pathology Specimen Locator (PSL)
What is the Pathology Specimen Locator?
The Pathology Specimen Locator (PSL) is a user-friendly, distributed network of autonomous databases containing coded, de-identified information on archived specimens, potentially available for research, in Harvard repositories.
The mission of the PSL is to facilitate research by Harvard investigators who require human specimens. Currently, a process flowchart is being put together to help educate investigators on the steps necessary for their human subject research projects. In addition, the PSL Program is working with Dr. Massimo Loda to generate sets of tissue microarrays, beginning with case-review and specimen request through the PSL.
What kinds of specimens are available?
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To date, there are over 600,000 cases listed on the PSL, with de-identified information describing more than 850,000 post-diagnostic excess specimens in paraffin-embedded blocks stored in Pathology Department archives of participating Harvard hospitals. The PSL is slated to expand its listings to include frozen specimens.
Getting Started
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1. Logon using your eCommons ID and password.
2. Select Disease Type from the drop-down menu.
This step automatically fills the Full Text Search box with the criteria for searching your requested disease type. Most users will use this option, then provide additional terms to refine the search.
