Sample collection update

Our co-clinical trial phase of sample collection is progressing at a remarkable pace. Since our first sample collection a few weeks ago, we are already counting 4 collected brain samples from oncology patients at the Neurosurgery Department of the Nicosia General Hospital. What is also striking to observe is that the sample collected was at a considerable quantity given the type of surgery required and the diagnosis. 
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ℹ️ What happens after we collect each sample?
There are four steps that need to be completed.
1) First, the collection itself, requires high-level organization and communication between the clinical and research team members. The sample is collected in tubes filled with tissue culture medium, on ice, and needs to travel from the surgery room to the lab in less than 15mins.
2) The second step is to "clean" the sample upon arrival, by washing it with PBS and cutting it down with special microsurgery equipment into very fine pieces (less than 1mm).
3) The third step is to distinguish the fine brain tissue ("clean" sample) from other bits of tissue that co-existed in the sample ("dirty" sample). These two samples are processed individually from now on.
4) After a few steps of more washing and centrifuging of the "clean" sample, it is processed for deep freezing at -80'C until its ready to be used either in vitro or in vivo for transplantation in zebrafish. The "dirty" sample is processed further (shredded & washed) and incubated in tissue culture flasks to identify & distinguish alive tumor & other TME cells by adherence to the flask surface, from dead cells floating.
The time taken to complete step 4 in our case, is less than 1.5 hours, which is well within the quality standard of <3 hours that is expected in high quality studies, as described in Good Clinical Standards.

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