Handbook of Human Tissue Sources

To date, no central database captures information about stored tissue samples. This handbook serves as a national resource, to bring together for the first time, in a single document, information about tissue storage in the United States. It provides information about several aspects of stored tissue samples, such as how many samples exist in the United States, where they are, who has access to them, and for what purposes they are used. A conservative estimate from the tissue collections described in this book is that more than 307 million specimens from more than 178 million cases are stored in the United States, accumulating at a rate of more than 20 million per year. This handbook will be a valuable resource for researchers who require tissue samples for studies in genetics, cancer, immunology, physiology, and cell biology, among many other disciplines. In addition, it should be useful to policymakers, physicians, and other professionals in fields related to health care.