Wednesday, December 20, 2023 From all of us at CCTG we wish you and your loved ones Happy Holidays, season’s greetings and best wishes for a happy, healthy, and joyous holiday season! CCTG central office holiday season hours of operation Friday December 22nd, limited coverage 9am – 5pm Monday December 25th, closed, no coverage Tuesday December 26th, closed, no coverage Wednesday December 27th, limited coverage 9am – 5pm Thursday December 28th, limited overage 9am – 5pm Friday December 29th, limited coverage 9am – 5pm Monday January 1st, closed, no coverage The central office will be re-open January 2nd, 2024 at 8:30am CCTG Tumour Tissue Data Repository Shipment of Specimens for Banking + Kit Supply To all centres participating on trials where frozen fluids (blood, serum, plasma, urine, etc.) and formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues (FFPE tumour blocks, slides, etc.) are collected and banked at the CCTG Tissue Bank: Please do not ship any frozen specimens or FFPE tissues between December 19, 2023 and January 2, 2024 inclusive, as our tissue bank and all its affiliated laboratory facilities will be suspending their activity and will not be able to receive or process any specimens. Please store specimens at the appropriate temperatures until you may resume your regular shipping schedule on January 2, 2024. To all centres participating on trials where circulating tumour cells (CTC) (Strek Tubes) and other ambient specimens are collected for immediate processing: Please note that laboratories analyzing these specimens will be closed between December 22, 2023 and January 1, 2024 inclusive. Any CTC or other ambient specimen sampling that would normally be scheduled during this period should instead be performed up to 2 weeks before or after the planned date (i.e. at a convenient time for patient and clinical team). If this is not possible, collect the blood in Streck tubes as close to Jan. 2, 2024 as possible and ship out on Jan. 2, 2024. If you require a waybill for the Jan. 2nd shipment please request a waybill before Dec. 21, 2023 or on Jan. 2, 2024. To all centres requiring kits: Any urgent orders for blood collection kit resupply should be placed prior to December 20, 2023 with ordering commencing on January 2, 2024. Please order kits ONLY if your inventory is low and/or if your kits are expiring during this time period, to avoid overstocking and therefore helping to reduce wastage.
