The success of translating bench research to the clinic depends on the availability of good quality biological speciemens. As the demand for well characterized biospecimens increases with increased interest in personalized medicine, Biobanks will face the problem of meeting biospecimen needs for research. The observation today is that sample sizes, for example, from surgical procedures, are decreasing. Factors contributing to this include new advances in diagnostic procedures resulting in much earlier detection of tumors, for example, in cancer. Thus the excised tumor is very small and available only for pathological diagnosis. Also, new techniques such as minimally invasive surgical procedures result in less “left over” material for research.
These advances are great for medical science. However research activities need to continue so that we can improve and advance our knowledge of disease development and progression. Biobanks therefore will have to design new routine collection methods to feed research needs. Some of these new methods will include tissue touch imprint preparations, tissue scrapings, and bronchial washes/gastric lavage collections. These could become sources for isolating DNA and RNA for research. Biobanks will have to assess the potential of incorporating these methods into their routine collection protocols. Specific research/technological platforms may benefit from some or all of these methods while others may not. It will be left to Biobanks to determine what new sample collection methods can be incorporated into their collection protocols when biospecimens from surgical procedures is not an option, and what body fluids can be collected and utilized for nucleic acid extraction other than blood/blood products. These collection methods will not jeopardize patient treatment and “scarce and “small” surgical specimens will now provide biospecimens for research.
The image here shows a tissue touch imprint preparation which involves the transfer by direct contact of the superficial cellular content of a fresh tissue (excised from surgery) onto filter paper or a glass slide. Cells from the tissue will adhere to the paper or glass slide. Specific protocols will then be utilized to process the paper or slide for nucleic acids. Touch imprint preparations are widely used by histologists and cytologists.
