Crimson Core

The Crimson Core provides discarded apheresis leukoreduction collars to research investigators and prospectively collects discarded clinical materials (including microbial isolates) matching investigatordefined criteria against available information on clinical samples, including diagnosis strings, test codes, and results of clinical laboratory testing. The Crimson Core also recently added digital slide scanning to its list of available services, providing scanning and short-term storage of digital research slides for investigators' analytical and computational needs. Studies using the core must either (1) have an IRB-approved protocol for discarded clinical materials and anonymized information or (2) a protocol to allow collection of discarded samples from patients consented for their study. Collected samples may be additionally processed, aliquoted or tested per the menu of clinical laboratory tests available within the BWH Clinical Laboratories. The core provides a web-based software application, called “Crimson” to allow investigators and associated study staff to manage collected sample repositories and associated data.

Personnel/Contact Information:

Director: Lynn Bry, M.D., Ph.D.
Phone: (617) 732-7763
Fax: (617) 264-6898
Email: lbry@bwh.harvard.edu 

Business Manager: Tim Janicki, MBA
Phone: (617) 278-0553
Email: tjanicki@bwh.harvard.edu 

Location and Hours of Operation:

Physical Location: Amory 2, Room 232, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115 (BWH Clinical Laboratories)

Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday, 8:30am-7:30pm

Getting Started:

To request services or reserve equipment through the Crimson Core, users should submit a service request through the core website: https://crimson-core.partners.org/request-services/ or email the primary core contact (tjanicki@bwh.harvard.edu).

Major Equipment and Capabilities:

The Crimson Core maintains specimen collection and processing equipment within its laboratory spaces. Additionally, the core maintains slide scanning and computing resources. Specific cluster access or slide scanning information are available upon request. To access core resources, please contact Tim Janicki at (617) 278-0553 or by email at tjanicki@bwh.harvard.edu. 

Departmental Web Link:

Please visit the Core’s external website for additional information: https://crimson-core.partners.org/.