A biobank perspective on use of tissue samples donated by trial participants

As academics closely involved in UK biobanking, we welcome the suggestions made in The Lancet Oncology by Robert Coleman and colleagues to develop guidelines to make the transfer of human tissue samples collected from trials into biobanks a more streamlined and transparent process. Patient-derived material and data are a valuable resource for contemporary biomedical research. Tissue from trials is especially valued due to the well-defined population and rigour of patient sampling and data curation