User:Chicagomaroon/Tumor Bank

Tumor Bank

A Tumor Bank, as used in this article, is a term commonly used to describe a service that collects, stores and distributes fresh human tumor tissue for the purposes of biomedical research, primarily cancer research.

A Tumor Bank is sometimes also referred to as a Tissue Bank, since normal tissues for research are also often collected. However, this function is distinct from a Tissue Bank which collects and harvests human cadaver tissue for medical research and education, and banks which store Biomedical tissue for organ transplantation.

Cancer Samples
Most tumor banks collect their tumor samples from discarded tissues not needed for pathologic diagnosis, after patients undergo surgery to remove the tumor. The tissue is often snap frozen in liquid nitrogen but may also be preserved in special fixative such as RNAlater (which preserves RNA), or formalin which preserved tissue architecture.

- Many Cancer Centers in the U.S. have a Tumor Bank to supply biomedical scientists with actual patient samples of cancer and associated adjacent normal tissue. This process is currently a high priority to support more Translational Research.