167 Discussion and future perspectives Other devices for (snap) freezing have already been commercially developed, for example Digitcool freezer (Cryo Bio System, L’Aigle, France), which is a freezing system for biological samples with snap freezing function and adjustable freezing rate and cold sink temperature, but it is not a mobile system. The Portable ULT25NEU freezer (Stirling Ultracold, Athens, Ohio, USA) is a portable device with adjustable temperature, but without the snap freezing function. In conclusion, our newly developed snap freezer has a promising combination of properties regarding mobility, snap freezing performance and conservation of molecular profiles in human tissue samples. It contains favorable properties of the freezing methods that are already in use, while it lacks most of their limitations and obsoletes the use of sacrificial cryogens. The snap freezer will be further developed as a commercial product. Improvements to the design will be implemented to create an intuitive user interface, enhance mobility and allow for multiple cryovials to be snap frozen and stored in parallel. The device will be suitable for use in all types of healthcare facilities, in operating theaters and for imaging-guided biopsies. OTHER CHALLENGES OF CONDUCTING CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL PRECISION ONCOLOGY TRIALS In the past decade, tremendous improvements have been made in the personalized care for patients with cancer. These improvements are the direct result of high-quality translational research and many clinical trials, a considerable proportion of which is investigator-initiated research. Although researchers are all highly motivated and creative, many challenges hamper the research following from scientific curiosity of clinicians and basic scientists. Aside from the usual suspects that are most often identified as barriers for researchers (time and financial support), we encountered several other challenges as described above. One example of a hurdle that may jeopardize particularly the investigator initiated translational research in the field of precision oncology is the acquisition of tissue samples for (multi-)omics analysis. Even when patients consent to undergoing extra biopsies for future research purposes, the regulations for harvesting and storage of these biopsies have become more strict in recent years, making it difficult to store tissue samples in general biobanks. Tumor-specific biobanking is often possible, but only if a specific research question is already specified in advance, before opening the biobank. The enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 in 2018 has also made it obligatory for patients to give specific consent for the storage of their genomic data67, which puts up an extra barrier for acquiring these data. When samples are requested from other institutes, especially when big data needs to be transferred, contracts may be overly strict, making it almost impossible to come to an agreement between two or more institutes. These regulatory issues, although designed to guard patients’ privacy and protect patients’ rights, seriously hamper the exchange of useful research data and the development of new ideas and research methods, especially in the field of multi-omics analysis of cancer tissues. 6
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