Stony Brook Cancer Center leadership formalized the Shared Resources in 2017, following extensive evaluation based on the 2014-2019 Strategic Plan. This planning process focused on defining critical needs of the membership and programs, existing capabilities in the Renaissance School of Medicine, the Health Sciences Center, and Stony Brook University.

In particular, Stony Brook Cancer Center (SBCC) ßpartnered with the Office of Scientific Affairs (OSA) which had been providing many of the critical shared resources required for modern conduct of biologic, biomedical and clinical research. In this process, the SBCC was guided by critical needs of the membership, goals of optimizing use of resources, and mechanisms to enable investigators to excel in their use of these Shared Resources.

This process led to establishing three highly coordinated support resources. The Associate Director for Shared Resources was appointed at the time the resources were formally established in 2017. These resources were developed with significant financial support from the Cancer Center to enrich cancer-focused research infrastructure in support of SBCC member science.

Overall, the cancer-focused centralized shared services for SBCC investigators are intended to ensure greater stability, reliability, cost-effectiveness and quality control of shared services.

Shared Resources provide several benefits for SBCC members including priority usage, specific services customized for cancer research, and financial assistance from the Cancer Center in the form of vouchers to offset the costs of services. Shared Resources are all located within Stony Brook Medicine’s superstructure and are easily accessible to SBCC members and their lab personnel by a short walk and elevator ride via interior corridors. The current Shared Resources include:

  • Biostatistics: Provides state-of-the-art biostatistical support for the entire research process from project planning and study design development through its execution, analysis, interpretation of results and manuscript submission
  • Biological Mass Spectrometry: Offers a wide range of analytical capabilities and expertise in three broad areas of molecular analysis: proteomics, lipidomics and metabolomics
  • Tissue Analytics: Provides four integrated services to SBCC members: 1) Biorepository for collection, processing, and storage of consented specimens; 2) Histology Laboratory for tissue processing, staining and digital imaging of slides; 3) Organoid facility for the development and expansion of tumor organoids; 4) Flow Cytometry services for cell characterization and phenotypic analysis