Tubafrost

The project had several aims that are detailed in the mission statement:

Create an innovating virtual European human frozen tumor tissue bank for the whole scientific community composed of high quality frozen tumor tissue sample collections with a corresponding accurate diagnosis stored in major European cancer centers and universities. This bank will be searchable through an uncomplicated query system on the Internet and provided with rules for access and use of the tissues complete with a European code of conduct to comply with the various legal and ethical regulations in the different European countries.

Objectives in terms of networking
No single European institute can offer the advantage of scale when it comes to testing new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities using the results of research in genomics and proteomics. Therefore it is necessary to make use of a network of tumor tissue banks, using uniform protocols to ensure comparable quality and data handling procedures. This, in turn, will ensure that more reliable conclusions can be drawn from research performed using the material from the tissue bank.

To manage the project, objectives were worked out in terms of co-ordination and research:

Management of the project (WP 1)
Development of storage systems and standardized protocols for handling frozen tissue, patient data and virtual microscopic images (WP 2 and 3).
Development of an information model to manage the networked bank (WP 4).
Development of virtual microscopy techniques and publication techniques of images on the Internet (WP 5).
To lay the groundwork and possibly establish a European code of conduct for handling tissues and patient data (WP 7).
Development of criteria for use of the stored tissues (WP 6).
Create incentives for pathologists to contribute to the tumor bank (WP 6).
Development of a business plan for continuation of the tissue bank after termination of EU funding the project (WP 6).
Description of the whole system (WP 9)