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Science 18 July 2003:
Vol. 301. no. 5631, p. 291
DOI: 10.1126/science.301.5631.291b
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ScienceScope

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is launching a national bank of cancer tissue samples, NCI Director Andrew von Eschenbach announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C., last week.

Named the National Biospecimen Network, the bank is being set up by NCI officials and others as part of the National Dialogue on Cancer, a private entity von Eschenbach helped create (Science, 24 May 2002, p. 1395). It's still unclear where samples will be stored, what cancers will be included, and how the venture will be funded.

Not everyone believes that a national bank is the right approach. "I'm wary, as budgets get tighter, in investing a lot of money in something that may not get used," says Harold Varmus, president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

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