Metastatic Access Research Collaboration (MonARC) for collection of post-mortem tissue

Understanding how cancers grow, spread, and change over time is fundamental to developing better treatments. One of the most valuable ways to study this is to examine cancer tissue taken from multiple sites in the body — including after a patient has passed away — giving researchers a complete picture of how the cancer evolved during the person's lifetime. This is called a rapid autopsy or post-mortem tissue donation program. The MonARC study creates a library (biorepository) of cancer samples paired with detailed medical information from people with metastatic (advanced, incurable) cancer. After giving consent, participants provide a blood sample during their lifetime, and then — with prior consent — tissue samples are collected as quickly as possible after death. Some cells may also be grown in the laboratory or implanted in specially bred mice to study their behaviour. To be eligible you need to be an adult who has been diagnosed with metastatic cancer, have the capacity to give informed consent, and have been told by your doctor that your illness is terminal. People who are currently incarcerated, have unstable psychiatric illness, or where there are concerns the participation would cause significant psychological harm are not eligible. This study is entirely voluntary and is about contributing to research that may help future patients.