IIT-Madras setting up bank to store tumour tissue samples

Questions that shroud cancer are many, the answers few. A key to unlock some of the mysteries is in the making with IIT Madras setting up a bank to store cancer tissues for research purposes. 

Most tumours find their way out of hospital premises as biomedical waste, but a group of researchers have decided to bank them. Professor S Mahalingam of IIT-M’s biotechnology department said the tissues would be sourced from various hospitals in the city with patients’ consent. 

”As soon as the tumour is removed, a portion of it will be transported to our facility and stored in liquid nitrogen at -190 degrees Celsius,” said Mahalingam, who is spearheading the project. The facility can accommodate 25,000 cancer tissue samples in a 10,000 sq ft space.

Genome sequencing will be done to determine the DNA structure of the tissues. “This will be different from a biopsy done in a hospital. While a biopsy can only give skeletal details like what stage the cancer is at, genome sequencing can tell what changes have happened at the cellular level,” he said. While some hospitals have banking facilities on a smaller scale, doctors say this will be the first such initiative at the national level. The centre — a collaborative effort between IIT Madras and the department of science and technology — will help record cancer incidence, and improve diagnosis and treatment. 

”Why do some patients respond to a particular mode of treatment, while others don’t? How are cancer cells in India different from those in the West? What caused the tumour? All the answers to these questions can be found at the molecular level,” said Dr C S Mani of Cancer Research and Relief Trust, which will work with IIT. Research organisations can access the stored tissue samples. “The centre will target application oriented research and provide a crucial link between scientific data collated and how clinicians could use the inferences in their treatment of cancer,” said Dr Mani.