The world's most comprehensive musculoskeletal biobank.
17,017 annotated surgical specimens — spine, joint, hand, and foot tissue — paired with deep clinical phenotyping and imaging from 458 consented participants. Built for the research that ends MSK disease.
A living resource for musculoskeletal discovery
The BMRC BioBank is a surgical biospecimen repository within the Orland Bethel Family Musculoskeletal Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. We collect, annotate, and distribute high-quality MSK tissue specimens — spine, joint, hand, and foot — paired with clinical outcomes, imaging, and longitudinal follow-up data from consented surgical patients.
Every specimen is collected under a single IRB-approved protocol designed to support both academic research and industry collaboration. The BioBank serves all 11 BMRC Core Labs across 25,000 square feet of dedicated research space in Pitt's Biomedical Science Tower.
“This gift will change the way we — and other scientists from across the globe — approach research because we will have assets at hand in a way we have never before experienced.”
Build your cohort from the most comprehensive MSK collection in the U.S.
Live inventory — updated in real time as surgical collections proceedSpine, joint, hand, and foot specimens — each paired with surgical metadata, clinical phenotyping, and linked imaging. Built for translational musculoskeletal research that demands more than tissue alone.
Explore specimen availability by tissue type — spine, joints, hand, and foot — using the interactive inventory below.
frozen - vial, Paraffin (PBC), OCT, frozen - bag across spine tissue types
Participant diversity — who's in our collection
Our participant cohort reflects the surgical MSK population at UPMC and affiliated sites — diverse by age, gender, and race.
Participant Gender
Racial Demographics
Age Distribution
*Pediatric cohorts available upon special request
Science that starts here
Specimen aliquots collected and growing
Since beginning operations in October 2024, the BMRC BioBank has rapidly scaled its collection — enrolling 458 consented surgical participants and processing over 17,017 specimen aliquots across spine, joint, hand, foot, blood, and plasma.
Nearly $100M in philanthropic commitment to MSK discovery
The Orland Bethel Family Foundation's landmark giving — including $25M to create the BMRC, $18.5M to launch the BioBank, and $53.5M in January 2026 to expand research and commercialization — has made the BMRC one of the most ambitiously funded musculoskeletal research centers in the world.
Read the latest →Core Labs, one shared biobank
Eleven BMRC Core Labs across orthopaedic surgery, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and biomedical sciences draw from the BMRC BioBank — enabling cross-disciplinary biomarker discovery, therapeutic target validation, and AI-driven MSK phenotyping across 25,000 square feet of dedicated research space.
Explore our Core Labs →Built on collaboration
The BMRC BioBank works with institutional, technology, and industry partners to accelerate musculoskeletal research from specimen collection through discovery.
Pitt Biospecimen Core
The University of Pittsburgh's central tissue accrual and research pathology resource, operational since 1991. The PBC provides ISBER-compliant biospecimen banking services, histology processing, and an IRB-approved Honest Broker System across four UPMC hospital sites.
Visit Pitt Biospecimen Core →Health Sciences Research Data Center (HSRDC)
Pitt's HIPAA-compliant secure computing environment for health data research. HSRDC provides the data infrastructure, storage, and analytics platform that powers the BioBank's specimen search engine and database.
Visit HSRDC →UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Home to one of the fastest-growing pediatric research programs in the U.S and ranked seventh in NIH grant funding, UPMC Children’s orthopaedic surgery research program and the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center extend the BMRC BioBank’s reach into pediatric musculoskeletal conditions.
Visit CHP Research →Your samples.
Real impact.
If you're a patient scheduled for spine, joint, hand, or foot surgery at UPMC or affiliated sites, you may be eligible to contribute biological samples to the BMRC BioBank. No extra appointments. No cost to you. Your contribution helps researchers find better treatments for MSK conditions affecting millions of people worldwide.
Review & consent
Your care team provides information about the biobank. You review and sign an IRB-approved consent form — at your pre-op appointment or through your patient portal. Voluntary at every stage.
Donation at your scheduled visit
Specimens — tissue, fluid, or blood — are collected during your procedure by your surgical team. No extra appointments, no additional procedures. Samples are de-identified before storage.
Ongoing contribution
With your consent, your anonymized health outcomes and follow-up data continue to enrich the biobank over time — creating longitudinal insights no single study could generate alone.
Our partnering surgeons
Our partnering surgeons across the UPMC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery actively support the BMRC Biobank. If your procedure is with one of these surgeons, ask their team about participating.
Your research deserves the right specimens. Ours are ready.
Skip the years-long recruitment phase. Annotated MSK biospecimens – paired with clinical phenotyping, imaging, and outcomes data – accessible through an IRB-compliant framework for pharma, biotech, device, and academic researchers. Three steps from inquiry to access.
Starting a collaboration takes three steps
Inquiry — no commitment required
Tell us what you're studying and what specimens or data you need. We’ll confirm feasibility against our current collection and enrollment pipeline within 5 business days.
Scoping & agreement
Our team works with you, Pitt’s Office of Sponsored Programs, and the Office of Industry Partnerships to scope the collaboration and execute the appropriate agreement. Typical turnaround: 4–6 weeks.
Access & delivery
Specimens or data are prepared, de-identified, and delivered under the agreed protocol. Our operations team coordinates collection logistics and documentation throughout.
BEYOND STANDARD ACCESS
Extended Collaborations
For select pharma, biotech, device, and academic partners, BMRC Biobank can co-develop prospective studies when current inventory does not address the research question. These engagements are evaluated case-by-case and require IRB approval, surgical team capacity, and partner funding through a Sponsored Research Agreement.
Contact us to discuss whether an extended collaboration is appropriate for your program.
COLLABORATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Facilitated through Pitt Office of Industry Engagement
Start a conversation
For specimen access, contract inquiries, feasibility questions, or media and philanthropic partnerships — reach us directly.