The Crown Institute for Genomics team has collaborated with Dr. Maya Dadiani and Bella Kaufman from the Institute of Oncology in Sheba Medical Center and with Dr. Noa Bossel from the lab of Prof. Eytan Domany of the Weitzmann Institute. We analyzed gene expression from tumor tissues preserved in Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) blocks. The FFPE preservation method is routinely used in the world of oncology, and the ability to sequence mRNA from these samples opens a treasure trove of historic data for retrospective clinical studies. Nonetheless, mRNA sequencing from such samples is technically challenging and expensive, due to RNA degradation, and results from FFPE are typically of poor quality. The genomics team has established a reliable and cost-effective procedure sequencing RNA from FFPE samples, that can open the door for large-scale retrospective clinical studies.
