# Pattern.org and the Pattern Biobank

Source: https://onco.cc/collections/pattern-org/  
OnCo record `pattern-org` (Collection). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A website where a person with a rare cancer in the US can consent online to donate tumour tissue, fluid or medical records to research, at any hospital and at no cost; the Rare Cancer Research Foundation arranges the collection.

## Summary

Pattern.org is the Rare Cancer Research Foundation's platform for patient-directed donation: a person registers, is matched to a research project, signs the consent online and gives details of their procedure, and the foundation arranges for leftover tissue or fluid to be collected from their hospital and sent overnight to the researchers. The foundation says donation is possible with any provider at any hospital, at no cost to the patient, without affecting care, that a donation can be withdrawn at any time, and that the models and data generated are made openly available to cancer researchers. When no project needs a sample immediately, it is stored in the Pattern Biobank, which accepts fresh tumour and matched normal tissue, blood, FFPE blocks, frozen tissue, PBMCs and plasma, and distributes samples to projects the foundation has approved; patients can also pay to store their own tissue or blood for future clinical use. Researchers use donated tissue to grow lasting laboratory models of the cancer (cell lines and organoids) and for DNA, RNA, exome and single-cell sequencing. Its listed studies include the INSIGHT biobank for ocular melanoma, run with A Cure In Sight, and the Rare Cancer Data Initiative with Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Alliance for Rare Cancers. The foundation's tissue donation page lists about 60 eligible cancers, mostly sarcomas, rare carcinomas, rare kidney cancers and rare melanomas.

## Fields

- Kind: Collection
- Last checked: 2026-11-05
- Also known as: Pattern.org; Pattern Biobank; Pattern Data Commons
- URL: https://pattern.org
- Holds: Tumour tissue, fluids, blood and medical records donated by people with rare cancers, sent fresh to matched research projects or stored in the Pattern Biobank, with paired clinical and molecular data in the Pattern Data Commons.

## Notes

- The eligible-cancer list is the foundation's, read on 5 November 2026; only cancers with an OnCo page are linked. Pattern.org's footer gives EIN 46-2205520, which differs from the foundation's own site and IRS record (46-3405526).

## Sources

- Pattern.org: https://pattern.org/
- About Pattern.org: https://pattern.org/about
- RCRF: tissue and fluid donation (eligible cancers): https://rarecancer.org/tissue-fluid-donation
- RCRF: our initiatives (biobank sample types): https://rarecancer.org/initiatives

## Connected records

- institutions: [A Cure In Sight](https://onco.cc/institutions/a-cure-in-sight/), [Alliance for Rare Cancers](https://onco.cc/institutions/alliance-for-rare-cancers/), [Case Comprehensive Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/case-ccc/), [Rare Cancer Research Foundation](https://onco.cc/institutions/rare-cancer-research-foundation/), [SMARCB1 Hope](https://onco.cc/institutions/smarcb1-hope/)
- cancers: [Acral melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/acral-melanoma/), [Adenoid cystic carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/adenoid-cystic-carcinoma/), [Alveolar soft part sarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/alveolar-soft-part-sarcoma/), [Anaplastic thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/anaplastic-thyroid-cancer/), [Angiosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/angiosarcoma/), [Chondrosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/chondrosarcoma/), [Chordoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/chordoma/), [Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/chromophobe-rcc/), [Collecting duct carcinoma of the kidney](https://onco.cc/cancers/collecting-duct-carcinoma/), [Desmoid tumour](https://onco.cc/cancers/desmoid-tumour/), [Ewing sarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/ewing-sarcoma/), [Gallbladder cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder/), [Glioma & glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glioblastoma/), [Leiomyosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/leiomyosarcoma/), [Liposarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/liposarcoma/), [Lung neuroendocrine tumours (typical and atypical carcinoid)](https://onco.cc/cancers/lung-net/), [Medullary thyroid cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/medullary-thyroid-cancer/), [Merkel cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/merkel-cell-carcinoma/), [Mucosal melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/mucosal-melanoma/), [Myxofibrosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/myxofibrosarcoma/), [Neuroblastoma (paediatric)](https://onco.cc/cancers/neuroblastoma/), [NUT carcinoma (midline carcinoma with NUTM1 rearrangement)](https://onco.cc/cancers/nut-carcinoma/), [Osteosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/osteosarcoma/), [Papillary renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/papillary-rcc/), [Perivascular epithelioid cell tumour (PEComa)](https://onco.cc/cancers/pecoma/), [Renal medullary carcinoma (SMARCB1-deficient)](https://onco.cc/cancers/renal-medullary-carcinoma/), [Rhabdomyosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/rhabdomyosarcoma/), [Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC) and SWI/SNF-deficient sinonasal carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/sinonasal-undifferentiated-carcinoma/), [Synovial sarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/synovial-sarcoma/), [Tenosynovial giant cell tumour (TGCT)](https://onco.cc/cancers/tenosynovial-giant-cell-tumour/), [TFE3-rearranged (translocation) renal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/tfe3-rearranged-renal-cell-carcinoma/), [Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS)](https://onco.cc/cancers/undifferentiated-pleomorphic-sarcoma/), [Uterine carcinosarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/uterine-carcinosarcoma/), [Uterine sarcoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/uterine-sarcoma/), [Uveal melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/uveal-melanoma/), [Wilms tumour (nephroblastoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/wilms-tumor/)
- technologies: [Biobanking and tissue procurement](https://onco.cc/technologies/biobanking/), [Patient-derived organoids](https://onco.cc/technologies/organoids/), [RNA sequencing & expression profiling](https://onco.cc/technologies/rna-seq/), [Single-cell & spatial profiling](https://onco.cc/technologies/single-cell-spatial/)
- terms: [Rare cancers](https://onco.cc/terms/rare-cancers/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/pattern-org.json