Laboratory Science and Pathology Committee

The Laboratory Science and Pathology Committee, under the leadership of Stanley R. Hamilton, MD, for more than 20 years, coordinates all of the biomarker activities of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) and the biorepositories that support this research. Its primary role in the Group is to increase the scientific value of its trials by encouraging, facilitating, integrating, coordinating, and prioritizing translational science that will lead to the use of biomarkers in studies.

Experts in somatic genetics, circulating tumor analyses, and immunologic assay development participate in this committee. They identify novel imaging, DNA, RNA, and protein-based biomarkers that define discrete patient populations, then explore them as integral biomarkers in ECOG-ACRIN trials. They evaluate the performance characteristics of such novel diagnostics for subsequent implementation in routine clinical practice. The network of tissue and specimen banks and translational science programs complements the work of this committee.

Through its component Laboratory Science Advisory Committee (LabSAC), this committee evaluates all proposals for studies using archived biological materials, as well as proposals for new correlative and integral biomarkers. It critiques the quality of such submissions, their biomarker assays, and their use of non-renewable, clinically, and biologically annotated specimens held in the Research Cores. The Immune Strategy Biomarkers Subcommittee guides a practical and broadly applicable immune-profiling strategy across the Group. This immune marker assessment platform is for tissue and blood specimen analysis across all cancer types we study.

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