LCRC Collaboration in Action

The collaborative nature of the Louisiana Cancer Research Center  has been  a boost to the research efforts of Dr. L. Spencer Krane, an Assistant Professor of Urology at Tulane University School of Medicine and LCRC faculty member.

Dr. Krane is a practicing urologist and regularly contributes consenting patient tissues to the LCRC's extensive Biospecimen Core Laboratory. He says it is an invaluable asset in the research battle against cancer in Louisiana.

The LCRC lab collects and stores high-quality samples that member institutions Tulane, LSU, Xavier and Ochsner can access for their respective cancer research projects.

"Through everyone's contributions, the LCRC has been able to develop a repository that's more impressive and accessible than any I have ever encountered," Dr. Krane said.

That's quite a compliment considering his experience as a fellow at the National Institute of Health's National Cancer Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

As part of his cancer research at Tulane, Dr. Krane works with the LCRC biospecimen bank to identify high-risk kidney cancer patients to aid in early detection.  

Dr. Krane is particularly impressed with the ease of obtaining research tissues and the level of collaboration among LCRC institutions. "It takes ideas, it takes a group. It's collaborative so not only do they help you to get tissue that you need, but they might be able to help you answer other questions about your research and connect you to others who can support your mission. Everyone buys in and while we're all practicing in our own institution there is a lot of encouragement and support among researchers. It opens up a lot of opportunities."

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