The goal of establishing the Texas Immuno-Oncology Biorepository (TIOB) is to create a research facility that purposely consents patients to collect, catalog, process, store, and analyze biospecimens with well-annotated clinical/radiological data from patients receiving surgical interventions or immunotherapeutics in our combined clinics throughout Texas. Potential types of studies that will be enabled by this resource will include but are not limited to (a) morphological studies including immunohistochemistry, (b) genomic and molecular analysis, including circulating, cell-free DNA, RNA, as well as extracellular vesicles and their cargo, (c) proteomic analysis involving protein isolation, (d) interrogation of circulating immune cells as well as the underlying tumor immune microenvironment, and (e) single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Correlation of these studies with clinical, treatment outcome, and demographic information will be possible. Translation of multi-omics technologies will be a key feature of the TIOB and data integration strategies including genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, radiomics, metabolomics and microbiomics will be possible and offer opportunities to improve our understanding of the complex biological interactions that define cancer.
