New hurdles for translational research

New guidelines for the collection and use of human tissues for research wil l impose new requirements on researchers to seek ethical approval and patie nt consent. This extends to the use of surplus tissue, such as breast cance r excision biopsies, which, until recently, have been regarded as having be en 'abandoned' by the patient. This article argues that some of these new c onstraints provide hurdles to translational research that are unnecessary f or patient protection. This is particularly significant when emerging techn ologies are expected to elicit major advances in clinical cancer research.