Director, Biopathology Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Biobanking is where everything comes together, says Dr. Nilsa Ramirez. Information about a patient’s clinical evaluation and laboratory data from their samples are connected and stored—or banked—with the samples in one place.
“If you look at clinical and lab data together,” said Nilsa, “you can generate more information that leads to greater discoveries.”
Her center houses specimens for several members of NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network and validates CCDI Molecular Characterization Initiative samples. With childhood cancer data, she hopes to see a future where the analysis of even a tiny sample of tissue, such as a tumor biopsy, is maximized. Ultimately, she says, all these data collected can guide pathologists like her in doing more with smaller samples.
Outside of the lab, Nilsa reads biographies and when the weather is nice, she can be seen with her husband on his Harley motorcycle.