NEW YORK, May 8 - The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Research Institute is creating a bank of donated human tissue samples to study hereditary and environmental factors of disease, the hospital said today.
LIJ expects around 20,000 adults to participate in the program. According to the hospital, patients will donate "a few tablespoons of blood and 'leftover' tissue" removed during an already-scheduled surgery. "What used to be considered medical waste now can be a valuable research tool through this program," LIJ said.
Peter Gregersen, head of the Research Institute's Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics, will oversee the tissue donation program.
"With the donated tissue and blood and unique medical information related to each sample, researchers may be able to identify genetic factors that may be associated with risk for disease, helping doctors to better predict who may develop the disease in the future," LIJ said in a statement.
The first samples being collected are colon cancer tumor tissue from patients undergoing surgery for adenocarcinoma of the colon at North Shore University Hospitals at Syosset and Plainview, NY, LIJ said.