In the January 1, 2007 issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology, The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) declared that the most-needed action to accelerate cancer research, next to increased funding, is greater access to biospecimens, or tissue samples.

Biospecimens are samples such as tissue, blood, plasma, and urine, as well as DNA and RNA which are taken from patients to be used for diagnosis and to plan treatment for that particular patient. Whenever a cancer patient undergoes a procedure such as a biopsy or surgery in which malignant tissue is removed for these diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, it is often possible for a small amount of that tissue to be stored and later used for research into a cure. The hope is that by studying these samples researchers might help other patients with melanoma and develop new treatments in the future.