Three-Dimensional Tumor Cell Cultures and the Role of Tissue Biorepositories in Personalized Medicine

Tissue biorepositories have long been critically important for medical research by providing human tissues for scholarly investigations. In addition to this traditional research role, tissue banks are rapidly assuming new roles in the clinical side of medicine. In the modern era of personalized medicine, tissue biorepositories are increasingly expected to establish close collaborations with clinical and laboratory units and provide banked tissues for a variety of tests that in turn will guide clinical decision making tailored to the patient [1-4]. This new role of biorepositories requires the development of novel complex standard operating procedures (SOPs) for tissue collection, processing and storage that can provide tissues ideal for a variety of novel molecular and other tests [1,3,4].