The Tissue Procurement Core is operated under the auspices of the Divisions of Laboratory Medicine and Surgical Pathology. The facility provides Washington University researchers and their collaborators with a centralized resource to collect, store, and utilize human tissue samples for cancer research. Dedicated staff and facilities are used to generate quality controlled nucleic acids and histological sections from collected patient specimens. Using appropriate standards to ensure informed patient consent and protection of confidentiality, the Core may also provide researchers with coded medical information about each patient who has donated tissue. Novel technologies to facilitate research in molecular oncology (e.g. laser-capture tissue microdissection) are also offered.