The Significance of Blood Samples in Cancer Research

Research has always been the foundation for making groundbreaking discoveries, especially in the field of medicine. From the plethora of various diseases, illnesses, and vaccinations researchers from all over the world have attempted to crack the code by finding out how these issues can be solved. Today the fight continues to shed even more light with the insurmountable amount of cancer tissue information that has been gathered and further examined.

The Role of Fruit Flies in the Fight Against Cancer

You might not think of fruit flies as more than a household nuisance, but cancer researchers have big plans for these tiny creatures. Their value to science deals with the cancer tissues information that fruit flies provide. Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly is being used in a variety of ways. Not only can drosophila help researchers pinpoint cancer tissue but they also aid in the understanding of how cancer tissues form in the human body.

In January of 2014, German and Italian biologists from the University of Konstanz employed fruit flies to identify cancer tissue by scent. Honey bees and dogs have exhibited similar abilities, but this batch of fruit flies was genetically modified to give off a specific color signature for different types of breast cancer cells. The researchers allowed different scents to waft over the tiny insects and studied their reactions under the microscope. When the fruit flies encountered cancer tissue, the genetic modifications made their antennas glow. In this experiment, researchers were able to obtain cancer tissues information that could one day be used for early detection in actual patients and thus save human lives.

The Other Organ: Importance of Skin and Tissue Donations

While the general public is aware of the need for donations of such organs as hearts and kidneys, skin and tissue donations are also very important to medical science and research.

Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Many individuals are affected annually by cancers of the soft tissue, affecting the fat, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, tendons and ligaments, and fibrous tissues. In fact, there are currently more than 50 types of these cancers.

Providing the Right Cancer Tissues Information Will Streamline Your Biobanking

One of the greatest things about biobanking is that it gives you access to a variety of diseased tissues — including cancer tissues — that would have otherwise been inaccessible due to normal limitations. As you know, cancer tissues can be extremely varied, so in order to make sure that you get the exact cancer tissues that you need from the biobank that you are working with, you need to have the correct cancer tissues information available to them. So that you do not overlook anything and accidentally end up with the wrong cancer tissues for your research, we are going to provide you with the following list of cancer tissues information that you should have prepared to furnish to the biobank.

Cancer Research Deserves The Best Biotech Samples

In this age of medical advancements, the role of the biotech sector is facing heavier demands for its services from giant pharmaceuticals and university level researchers, genetic labs and various contract research organizations. If your focus is biotech research, you are no doubt seeing this up tick in demand reflected by the need for continuous flow of specimens of well-documented tissue to accelerate the research process.

Biobanks and Modern Medicine

A biobank is an institution that extracts and stores valuable samples of the human tissue, blood, and diseases. This service provides much needed samples to scientists for a multitude of testing and manipulation experiments. Pharmaceutical companies, CRO’s, and biotechnology companies all rely on a steady and reliable supply of well-characterized samples to create life saving solutions to diseases and defects. Biobanks are an essential tool in the fight against cancer and the ever broadening field of DNA isolation, specification, and manipulation that is at the absolute forefront of modern medicine.
Extraction is a delicate process that requires knowledge, finesse, and consistency to ensure the quality of the samples and their continued availability. This is can only be achieved by a highly organized and well trained unit of licensed bio-technicians and the cooperation of several major hospitals and medical institutes. Biobanks must meet tough industry and personal standards to uphold their integrity and the quality of the samples they provide.

How Your Biological Samples Should be Stored

It goes without saying that your lab’s biological samples need to be stored in the best possible way. If they are not, then the samples are more likely to be contaminated and as a result, the entirety of your research will be completely destroyed. Avoiding this possibility requires you to follow several important steps when you are storing your tissue samples. To ensure that your biological tissue samples re not destroyed due to poor storage procedures, we will walk you through how to store them.

Detecting Cancer Tissue

Cancer can be broadly defined as a group of abnormal biological cells that can spread throughout the body and even lead to death. According to the The National Cancer Institute, close to 13.7 million Americans are living with cancer or have been affected by cancer in their lifetimes. The American Cancer Society reports that cancer is the second leading cause of death in America. Just in 2013 alone, over half a million people succumbed to cancer-related illnesses. That’s over 1,500 people a day. Some cancers are preventable since they are linked to tobacco use, radiation and chemicals we ingest. Other forms of cancer are hormonal or inherited through our genetic makeup.

Save a Life with Human Tissue Banks

While many individuals take out insurance for their health, home, car and even to provide for their loved ones after they are gone, there are other elements of insurance that are not necessarily protected simply by sending off a monthly service check. No matter the quality of health insurance, there are times where an individual needs certain blood types, transplants, skin grafts or other medical procedures that just simply are not covered, if the required tissue and blood are not available. For individuals who have a rare blood type, it is difficult to obtain a donor when the time calls for it. That is exactly the reason why human tissue banks are so desirable. The human tissue banks are available to anyone who wants to store tissue and medical information for safe keeping. There are different aspects to the human tissue banks and it is always possible for someone to donate at future times. All of this is going to be very important for some people, especially when it comes to possible medical procedures later on in life.

The Five Services that all Biobanks Should Have

It goes without saying that bio banks have become a scientific necessity. Every type of biological science based organization, from research labs to hospitals, will find themselves in need of bio bank services with increasing frequency. This increase in bio bank demand is inevitably resulting in a rise in the number of bio banks in existence; this means that your lab has options. Here are five services that any bio bank that you chose to work with should include:

Optimized storage methods

Improperly stored biological specimens are likely to experience freezer burn or decomposition. This damage will most likely make the tissue sample useless for your endeavor, so the tissue bank supplying goods such as these will have effectively wasted your precious time and possibly ruined your experiment or procedure.

In order to ascertain whether or not the tissue bank that you are considering working with uses adequate tissue storage procedures, you should ask them how they store their tissue samples. Snap tissue freezing is one of the best ways to store tissue, as it reduces the likelihood of freezer burn to almost nil; asking if they use this freezing method should be the first question on your list.

Tissue variety

If a bio bank does not have the tissue that you need, then they are of no use to you. If you work in a lab that often requires a myriad of tissue samples, then you will want to pay especially close attention to this, because building a working relationship with a single bio bank that can provide you with all of the tissue samples that you need is priceless.

Customization of biobanking services

Sometimes you need a rare tissue sample prepared in a manner that is so specific that it can only be obtained through a custom request. For these instances, you will want to work with a bio bank that has experience with collecting these types of tissue samples, because they are most likely to get it right.

To determine whether or not the tissue bank that you are considering working with provides an adequate amount of biobanking service customization, you should ask them if they offer the following services:

• Customized tissue extractions
• Collection preference options
• Specimen testing services

 Fast shipping speeds

All scientific endeavors are time sensitive processes, so when you need a tissue sample, you most likely need it as soon as possible. Many high quality bio banks know this well, and that is why they offer same day shipping services.

Try to work with tissue banks that offer these types of rapid shipping services, because even if you don’t often have an urgent need for a tissue sample, the time will arise sooner or later; you don’t want to be stuck working with a tissue bank that cannot get you the tissue samples that you need in an expedited manner.

 A knowledgeable team

Knowledge is power. Your tissue bank’s team should include serious scientific professionals who are highly respected in their field, and more importantly, know what they are doing.