The Stanford Tissue Bank was established with seed funding from the Bio-X Program and the Department of Pathology, and currently receives support from the Stanford Cancer Institute . The goal of the Tissue Bank is to facilitate biomedical research using tissues at Stanford, by providing services for the procurement, storage, distribution, and study of tissues.

Current Tissue Bank activities and services include collecting and banking freshly-frozen tissue specimens from excess surgical material and from autopsy, providing fresh tissue specimens for viable cell studies, processing and banking blood components, maintaining a tissue database with links to clinicopathological data, performing histological staining and pathological review, and coordinating patient consent and assuring regulatory compliance. As a centralized shared resource, the Tissue Bank adds value through experience, efficiency, standardization, accountability, protection of patient confidentially, and timely completion of research. An oversight committee serves to guide policies, prioritize resources, and review service requests to ensure equitable usage.