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From Sample to Breakthrough: Inside the Pattern Biobank
At the Rare Cancer Research Foundation (RCRF), innovation is not just a mission…it is a lifeline for patients diagnosed with rare cancers, where treatment options are limited and research is underfunded; every breakthrough counts. One of RCRF’s newest tools in driving discovery is the Pattern Biobank. This resource was built to accelerate research and create new possibilities for those who need them most.
The Pattern Biobank is more than a repository of clinical samples… it is a thoughtfully designed infrastructure that reduces redundancy across the research landscape, improves sample utilization, and advances drug discovery for cancers that are often overlooked. As Amber Smith, RCRF’s Biobank Director, explains, “Instead of individual foundations or institutions having to build their own biobank, we do it for them to save costs and provide a simplified solution to sample ownership and utilization. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.”
The Biobank was born from the vision of RCRF’s founder, Mark Laabs, a rare cancer patient who saw a pressing need. Researchers struggled to access the clinical samples needed to study rare cancers. Pattern.org and other pattern initiatives such as the Biobank were built to address that challenge, creating systems and processes that make it easier to conduct meaningful research and speed up the pace of discovery. The use of the word “Pattern” is integral to these initiatives, as ultimately researchers are looking for patterns found in tissues and data in order to make discoveries to create new therapeutic options for patients.