Published: October 26, 2009

The Tumour Tissue Repository (TTR) is a provincial program with its hub at the Vancouver Island Centre.

The TTR program has three purposes:

• It is a biobank (a collection of biospecimens and health information to support cancer research)
• It is a resource for advice, help and support for the biobanking components of other projects at the Vancouver Island Centre, such as PREDICT, Biomarkers and IROC (see Deeley Research Centre), as well as projects elsewhere, such as the Molecular Oncology and Breast Cancer Program in Vancouver
• It helps to improve the processes and set the standards for biobanks, working with other leading biobanks in the province (BC BioLibrary) and nationally (Canadian Tumour Repository Network).

At the Vancouver Island Centre, the TTR obtains patient consent to collect blood samples, tissue samples (excess tissue from surgery not needed for diagnosis) and clinical information. The TTR processes and stores these as anonymized samples and information and then provides researchers, who have projects approved by a research ethics board, with access to the samples for cancer research.

This project is led by Dr. Peter Watson and a dedicated team.

Please see the Tumour Tissue Repository section of the BC Cancer Agency's Research Centre website for more information.

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