In recent years, cancer research has started to shift from using animal models to human tissues. Due to the change in the pattern of research, investigators often need human tissue for research.

The tissue removed from the patient's body during surgery is sent to the pathology department for examination. First the tissue goes to the pathology grossing room, a small portion of the tissue is used for microscopic examination and rest of the tissue is discarded after ~3 weeks. The portion taken for microscopic examination is embedded in paraffin known as paraffin blocks. Sections from the paraffin blocks are taken to make slides. The slides are used to generate pathological diagnosis and the reports are released. Instead of discarding, the tissue can be processed in a scientific manner to be used for research purposes.

TSC will scan the list of planned surgeries and will decide the cases of interest. TSC will contact surgeon's office to request permission to approach the patient for his/her consent. After obtaining consent from the patient, we will request the surgeon to send the tissue  to pathology on ice (instead of formalin). We will provide the ice container to collect the tissue. Immediately after the tissue is released, it will be  taken to the pathology grossing room, where, first the tissue will be selected for diagnosis and then only a portion of the tissue will be collected by TSC for research.