SOURCES SOUGHT
Q -- Brain Harvesting
- Notice Date
- 1/10/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, UNIFORMED SERVICES UNIVERSITY OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES (USUHS), 4301 JONES BRIDGE ROAD, Bethesda, Maryland, 20814-4799, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20814-4799
- Solicitation Number
- USUHS140001
- Archive Date
- 1/21/2014
- Point of Contact
- Michelle Creenan,
- E-Mail Address
-
michelle.creenan@usuhs.edu
(michelle.creenan@usuhs.edu)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is the Nation's federal health sciences university and is committed to excellence in military medicine and public health during peace and war. We provide the Nation with health professionals dedicated to career service in the Department of Defense and the United States Public Health Service and with scientists who serve the common good. We serve the uniformed services and the Nation as an outstanding academic health sciences center with a worldwide perspective for education, research, service, and consultation; we are unique in relating these activities to military medicine, disaster medicine, and military medical readiness. USU is located in Bethesda, MD on the grounds of the Naval Support Activity Bethesda. Additional information regarding USU can be found on our website: www.usuhs.mil. USU has a requirement for brain harvesting services. It is our intent to award a firm fixed price (FFP) option year contract (Base, with four (4) one (1) year options = Five (5) years total). This is a Sources Sought Notice. Offerors capable and interested in responding to this requirement must notify the contract specialist in writing by 10:00 PM Eastern local time by January 20, 2014. Responses must be emailed to michelle.creenan@usuhs.edu. Responses must include the following information: • Company Name • Company Point of Contact, to include phone number and email • DUNS • Socioeconomic Status • Capability statement: Demonstrating that you can meet the requirements listed below, which includes resume showing experience in performing brain harvesting Statement of Work (SOW): Background / Scope It is required that the brains specimens selected for our School of Medicine shall be selected from cadavers that have been properly donated to medical science. The ideal cadaver for brain harvesting shall be a cadaver that has no obvious head trauma. A cadaver that has been diagnosed with cancer not affecting the head or neck, or any other anotomical structures below the clavicle, shall be considered optimum specimens for brain harvesting. With coordination of State and local authorities, the vendor shall ensure that the death certificate has been signed, and cadaver's cause of death verified. The vendor shall ensure that cause of death will not in any way affect, or produce a hazard to the future students, staff and faculty that may have contact with the brain specimen(s), such as one diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and / or HIV. Vendor must provide copy of death certificate from source of body from which brain is harvested. The following are excerpts for dissection from well published dissector guides used in School of Medicine daily laboratory settings. The overall purpose of this guide is to ensure that the specimens are dissected to best assure the specimen are of the best of quality for teaching purposes. Follow the guidelines as indicated. Clinical Head and Neck Neuroscience Dissection Instructions for Harvesting of Brain Specimens Exterior of the Skull (Before you dissect) With the Cadaver in the supine position place a block under the back of the head. Dissection Instructions: Scalp Careful dissection of brain specimens is paramount. It becomes obvious when a brain specimen arrives for dissection that blade marks, and cuts in the brain occurred post mortem. These careless errors cost money. Multiple specimens must be dissected to make up for erroneous dissecting mistakes. Please take caution to ensure that the best dissecting techniques are followed at all times. The incisions should be made through the entire scalp and the scalpel should contact the bones of the calvaria. Make a midline incision from the nasion to the vertex. Extend this incision to the external occipital protuberance. Make a transverse incision from the vertex to the ear. Duplicate this cut on the opposite side of the head. Beginning at the Vertex, use Rocherster-Oschner forceps (straight, 1 vs. 2 teeth, 6 ¼") to grasp one corner of the incise scalp and insert an osteotome (straight, double bevel, ½") between the scalp and the calvaria. Use the osteotome to loosen the scalp from the calvaria. Once the flap of the scalp is raised, grasp the flap the 2 forceps and pull it inferiorly. Do not detach the flaps. Reflect all four flaps of scalp down to the level that a hatband would occupy. Interior of the Skull (Before you dissect) The bones of the calvaria provide protective covering for the cerebral hemispheres. To view the internal features of the cranial cavity, the calvaria must be removed. In addition, a wedge of occipital bone will be removed to open the dissection field and make a removal of the brain easier. The order of dissection will be as follows: The scalp and temporalis muscle will be reflected inferiorly. The calvaria will be cut with a Stryker saw and removed. A wedge of occipital bone will be removed. The dura mater will be examined and then opened to reveal the arachnoid mater and pia mater. Dissection Instructions Removal of the Calvaria The calvaria should be in the supine position. Fold the flaps of the scalp inferiorly. On the lateral surface of the calvaria, beginning at the superior temporal line, use a scalpel to detach the temporalis muscle from the calvaria. Reflect the temporalis muscle inferiorly over the reflected scalp. Scrape the bone with an osteotome to clean the periosteum and muscle fibers. Use a pencil to draw a line around the circumference of the skull cap ¾ of an inch above the upper margin of the orbit anteriorly and ½ inch above the External Occipital protuberance (EOP) posteriorly. Use the Stryker saw to cut through the outer table of bone along the pencil line. The guide for reaching the diploe or marrow cavity is seeing red-brown sawdust. Proceed carefully in the temporal region as the bone is thin here. After you have made the saw cut, insert an osteotome into the cut and strike with a mallet to split the inner table of bone around the entire circumference. The calvaria still cannot be lifted free because the periosteal dura is fused to the interior of the skull. Remove the calvaria by detaching it from the dura mater with your fingers or the handle of a forceps. Work from anterior to posterior and do not use more force than is necessary. Violent pulling may result in tearing of the dura and damage to the brain. Removal of a Wedge of Occipital Bone Place the cadaver in the prone position. Use a scalpel to detach the semispinalis capitis muscle, splenius capitis muscle, obliquus capitis superior muscle, and the rectus capitis posterior major and minor muscles from the occipital bone. Identify the posterior atlanto-occipital membrane, which spans the interval between the atlas and the occipital bone. Use scissors to incise the posterior atlanto-occipital membrane transversely from the left vertebral artery to the right vertebral artery. Use a scalpel or osteotome to scrape the occipital bone clean of remaining muscle fibers and pericranium. On the skull, note the point where the lambdoid suture meets the saw cut where the calvarium was removed. Transfer this point to the cadaver specimen and mark the location with a pencil. On the external surface of the skull, identify the lateral margin of the foramen magnum and transfer this point to the cadaver specimen. On the right and left sides of the cadaver, connect points A and B with a pencil line to define the wedge of occipital bone that will be removed in the cadaver. Use a Stryker saw to cut along the pencil lines. As in the removal of the calvaria, do not cut through the inner lamina of compact bone. Extend the saw cut into the foramen magnum but preserve the vertebral arteries. Loosen the wedge of bone with osteotome and mallet and remove it, leaving the dura mater intact. Removal of the Brain (Before you dissect) The internal meningeal layer of the dura mater forms inwardly projecting folds (dural infoldings) that serve as incomplete partitions of the cranial cavity. Three of these folds (cerebral falx, cerebellar tentorium, and cerebellar falx) extend inward between parts of the brain. These infoldings must be cut to remove the brain. The order of dissection will be as follows: The brain will be removed intact, along with the arachnoid mater and pia mater. The dura mater will be left in the cranial cavity. Dissection Instructions In the midline, use your fingers to gently retract one cerebral hemisphere 1 or 2 cm laterally and observe the cerebral falx between the cerebral hemispheres. The cerebral falx is attached to the crista galli at its anterior end and the cerebellar tentorium at its posterior end. Use your hand to gently lift the frontal lobes (anterior part of the brain) and use scissors to incise the cerebral falx where it is attached to the crista galli. This incision should connect the anterior ends of the two parasagittal incisions. Use scissors to cut the cerebral veins where they enter the superior sagittal sinus so that the veins will remain on the surface of the brain. Grasp the cerebral flax near the crista galli and pull it superiorly and posteriorly from between the cerebral hemispheres. Posteriorly, the cerebral falx will remain attached to the cerebellar tentorium. On the right side, gently lift the occipital lobe (posterior part of the brain) and observe the cerebellar tentorium. Beginning anteriorly, use a scalpel to cut the cerebellar tentorium as close to the bone as possible. Sever the cerebellar tentorium from the posterior clinoid process and then from the superior border of the petrous part of the temporal bone. The cut should continue to the posterolateral end of the superior border of the petrous part of the temporal bone, near the grove for the sigmoid sinus. Repeat the cut on the left side of the cadaver. Pull the cerebral flax and cerebellar tentorium posteriorly from between the cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum. This procedure will tear the great cerebral vein. With the dural infoldings detached, the brain may be gently moved to expose the cranial nerves and vessels that are located on its inferior surface. Use your fingers to gently elevate to frontal lobes. Use a probe to lift the olfactory bulb from the cribriform plate on each side of the crista galli. Use a scalpel to cut the following structures bilaterally: optic nerve, internal carotid artery, and oculomotor nerve. Cut the stalk of the pituitary gland in the midline. Raise the brain slightly higher and cut the following structures bilaterally: trochlear nerve, trigeminal nerve, and abducent nerve. Elevate the cerebrum and brainstem still further and cut the following structures bilaterally: facial and vestibulocochlear nerves near the internal acoustic meatus; glossopharyngeal, vagus and accessory nerves near the jugular foramen; hypoglossal nerves near the hypoglossal canal. Sever the two vertebral arteries where they enter the skull through the foramen magnum and use a scalpel to cut the cervical spinal cord as low in the foramen magnum (or cervical vertebral canal) as you can reach. Support the brain with the palm of one hand under the frontal lobes and your fingers extending down the ventral surface of the brainstem. Insert the tip of your middle finger into the cut that was made across the cervical spinal cord to support the brainstem and cerebellum. Roll the brain, brainstem, and cerebellum posteriorly and out of the cranial cavity in one piece. Do to certain head and facial surgical procedures, modifications to the harvesting technique may need to be made. The brain should be stored in a bath of preservative fluid. Fixation for Fresh Human Brain Recommended Points Key to Getting Clean Well Fixed Brain Tissue Cradling the brain with both hands underneath, gently dip the brain up and down 4-5 times in a bucket of water. Allow excess water to drain from the brain before re-dipping in fresh water. Change water and repeat dipping series. Drain the brain again. Suspend washed brain with a string under the basilar artery in a bucket containing 20% neutral buffered formalin for 3-5 days. After 3-5 days, remove the brain from the first 20% neutral buffered formalin solution. Use a clean bucket and re-suspend brain in 2nd fresh 20% neutral buffered formalin solution. Fix for an additional minimum of 30 days. Storage of multiple brain specimens in the same container is encouraged; as the specimens will be placed in common holding tank after initial examination upon arrival is completed.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/402e508a00a41878c48f9480c530ebda)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, Maryland, 20814, United States
- Zip Code: 20814
- Zip Code: 20814
- Record
- SN03265767-W 20140112/140111000155-402e508a00a41878c48f9480c530ebda (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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