What are biospecimens?
Biospecimens are biological materials from people (such as tissue, blood, plasma, and urine) that can be used for diagnosis and basic research. When cancer patients undergo procedures such as a blood draw, biopsy or surgery in which a specimen is removed for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, it is often possible for a small amount of residual specimen to be stored and later used for research. Many patients have given consent for their biospecimens to be used in research, in the hope that the resulting knowledge might help other patients in future years. It is important to note that such biospecimens are being collected for research purposes, not for use in transplantation or other medical products.
