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Why is donating samples and information important at the UW Carbone Cancer Center?
Donated samples and information at the UW Carbone Cancer Center enables us to do important research on many things related to cancer, including:
Prevention of disease and cancer
Earlier disease diagnosis and intervention
Prediction of disease response to treatment
Improving outcomes and patient survival
If you agree to donate tissues and/or samples and share your medical information, you can help scientists discover new ways to prevent, detect, treat and hopefully cure cancer and other diseases for tomorrow’s generation. Without tissue samples, many types of research, including personalized medicine, are not possible.
How can you participate?
If you are interested in participating, you can click here to watch an informational video on how WiscShare works and provide consent for us to use your clinical information and tissues and/or samples that would normally be discarded after your clinical testing is complete.
Talk to your doctor or nurse about donating tissue and samples at the UW Carbone Cancer Center. Your health care team can help answer any question you may have and provide an informed consent for you to sign.
You may also speak with a member of UW Carbone Cancer Center’s WiscShare team at (608) 262-8488 or e-mail biobank@uwcarbone.wisc.edu.
How are samples provided to researchers?
After the doctors determine the cause of your illness, we send any remaining tissue sample to WiscShare to be stored and distributed to researchers for use in the future.
Your samples and information will be stored securely within the UW Carbone’s special storage unit known as the BioBank. When researchers at UW and collaborators need these samples, they will be released without your name or other identifying medical information attached.
Are there any costs or payment associated with your participation?
No, there is no cost to you for your participation, and you will not receive payments for your participation in WiscShare.
Does your participation benefit you directly?
You will not know when researchers use your samples or the results of their research. You are not expected to benefit directly from donating your samples. However, these results might benefit other patients in the future.