Patient-Centered Cancer Biobank

 

While there are multiple of government, private and public cancer biobanks that store cancer tissue, most biobanks are not patient-centered.  Tissue is generally stored to advance cancer research.  Yet, patients do not have access to their tissue or have any say as to how their cancer tissue is used for their own personal healthcare needs.  For example, patients often do not have access to quality cancer tissue of their own for testing approved or experimental chemotherapy in the future if their cancer relapses.  Also, viable cancer tissue or a cancer cell is a prerequisite to enroll into a cancer vaccine trial.  CET provides a spectrum of personalized bio-repository services that includes:

 

1. Cryo-preservation of cancer tissue.

2. Annotation of clinical information.

3. Preparation and cryo-storage of personalized cancer cell lines from fresh tissue at the time of diagnostic biopsies and cancer surgery. 

 

CET’s routine approach is to process fresh cancer tissue in the following manner, provided sufficient tissue is available:

 

1. Cryo-storage of a sample of whole tissue.

2. Creation of a master cell line from the patient’s tumor for personal use.

3. Creation of a duplicate master cell line for medical research use.

 

Any valuable medical research derived from a patient’s cancer is stored in the patient’s private database.

 

Each patient’s personal information is kept secure and private and is not disclosed to third parties without consent from the patient.