Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center

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Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center

The world's only biobank that collects healthy breast tissue for breast cancer research. The donors to this repository are volunteers.

The KTB is a repository bank of whole blood, DNA, plasma, serum and frozen human breast tissue. What sets the KTB apart from all other tissue and blood repositories is that the vast majority of our donors are without evidence of breast cancer. Each sample is annotated with detailed medical information about the donor. Even though donors will not benefit directly from their donation, they are providing an invaluable resource to enable research to maximize its potential today and in generations to come.

11/21/2025

What does HOPE look like to you?

To us at the Komen Tissue Bank, it looks like the incredible bond between our dedicated staff and our generous community members.

This powerful interaction you see here represents the foundation of our work: providing researchers worldwide with the highest quality tissue. Every sample shared by our amazing community helps accelerate breakthrough discoveries and brings us closer to a future without breast cancer.

We are profoundly grateful for the commitment shown by everyone who supports the mission of the KTB!

Tell us in the comments: What is one word you associate with breast cancer research?

11/19/2025

When a donor makes a healthy breast tissue donation to the Komen Tissue Bank, whole blood is also collected and stored at the same time. This combined sample set provides researchers with critical, matched data, supporting studies into cancer risk, progression, and preventions.

The Komen Tissue Bank provides this essential resource to scientists globally. Thank you for making this vital research possible!

FOLLOW US FOR MORE updates and insights into the research that donations fuel!

Share this to show how whole blood supports real-world research.

11/18/2025

To our November babies, Happy Birthday! Don’t forget to complete your medical follow-up this month! Contact Alison at alisnide@iu.edu or (317)274-2366 if you need assistance.

11/14/2025

Behind the Scenes: Protecting Your Precious Donations!

Yesterday, the Komen Tissue Bank lab team had a very important and insightful tour at Azenta Life Sciences. Azenta is an essential partner in safeguarding the invaluable tissue samples you generously donate.

Why is this important for our donors? After collection and processing, we ship a critical backup set of samples to Azenta's high-security, temperature-controlled facility. This redundancy ensures that your samples—which are vital for future breast cancer discoveries—are protected against any unforeseen circumstances at our primary location. Your contribution to research is secured!

A huge thank you to the Azenta team for hosting us and for their unwavering commitment to protecting biospecimens. Your professionalism is key to the success and sustainability of our mission.

We are proud to work alongside partners who prioritize security and quality as much as we do.

11/14/2025

What an inspirational evening for the 39th Annual Debutante Cotillion and Scholarship Program!

The Komen Tissue Bank sends a massive thank you to these amazing young women! We were privileged to have many of these dedicated Debutantes volunteer at our most recent tissue collection event. Their hard work helped them contribute to that incredible 3,000+ hours of community service mentioned in this post, and their support for breast cancer research is truly invaluable!

Congratulations to all 38 Debutantes on a job well done!

11/13/2025

The supportive tissue in your breast, called the stroma, may hold important clues about cancer risk.

Scientists are studying these changes to better understand how breast cancer develops and how we can stop it before it starts.

Your healthy tissue donation helps make discoveries like this possible. Learn more at https://cancer.iu.edu/ktb/index.html

11/11/2025

Did you know that one of the biggest roadblocks in breast cancer research was the simple difficulty of finding a control group? Researchers struggled to get enough normal, healthy tissue to truly understand how cancer begins.

The Komen Tissue Bank (KTB) was founded to solve this critical problem. We provide the essential resource: the world's largest repository of normal breast tissue.

What does "normal" mean for us? It means tissue volunteered by people who have never been diagnosed with breast cancer.

This pioneering effort offers a vital pathway for individuals without a breast cancer diagnosis to directly contribute to groundbreaking research and help unlock the secrets to prevention for future generations.

Share this post to spread awareness about this crucial scientific work!

Learn more about the unique role KTB plays in advancing science on our website!

11/07/2025

Our tissue collection events are more than just a day of collection; they are a logistical masterpiece built on commitment. To ensure absolute precision, our team dedicates three full months to preparation and organizing every single supply needed.

This intensive prep enables our success: on event day, over 100 dedicated people arrive to transform a clinic space, allowing us to perform approximately 100 essential biopsies. Even more impressive? We set up a full pop-up lab on-site to immediately process every sample, ensuring maximum research quality.

This level of synchronized effort is rare, and it's all powered by our mission to end breast cancer. A massive thank you to our incredible team for making this machine run flawlessly.

We need your help to spread the word! Please SHARE this post to tell others about the incredible work happening at the Komen Tissue Bank.

11/05/2025

Imagine a future free of breast cancer. This future is built on research, and research relies on a unique resource: healthy breast tissue. The Komen Tissue Bank is the world's only biobank of this essential healthy tissue, driving discoveries globally.

Join the network. Spread the word. We are a vital resource that many people don't know about, and we can't grow this essential work without you.

By sharing our mission, you help establish The Komen Tissue Bank: A Global Resource. Let's connect communities, empower scientists, and illuminate the path to prevention.

11/04/2025

Hey November birthdays! It’s your turn to help us help others by completing your medical follow-up! Contact Alison at alisnide@iu.edu or (317)274-2366 if you need assistance.

10/31/2025

Happy Halloween from the witches, scientists, and whole team at the Komen Tissue Bank (KTB)! 🎃🧹

We took a fun break from battling breast cancer to celebrate our monthly team gathering—and clearly, some of us just happen to have a magic touch when it comes to healthy tissue research! 😉

We love building community while working toward our mission: providing the world's only resource of healthy breast tissue and matched samples to accelerate prevention research.

From all of us at the KTB, we hope you have a safe and spooky day!

10/29/2025

Our cryopreserved tissue samples are frozen to preserve living cells from healthy breast tissue.

Researchers use these samples to study how normal cells behave, respond to treatments, and differ from cancer cells.

This post shows how your donation is actively helping scientists understand breast biology in real time.

Share this to show how healthy tissue supports cutting-edge research.

Address

550 N University Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN
46202

Telephone

+13172742366

Website

http://www.komentissuebank.iu.edu/

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