one more step.   

snip~
The bizarre case is the first use in a patient of a new discovery: how to keep ordinary and cancerous cells alive indefinitely in the lab.

The discovery allows doctors to grow "mini tumors" from each patient's cancer in a lab dish, then test various drugs or combinations on them to see which works best. It takes only a few cells from a biopsy and less than two weeks to do, with materials and methods common in most hospitals.

Although the approach needs much more testing against many different types of cancer, researchers think it could offer a cheap, simple way to personalize treatment without having to analyze each patient's genes.

"We see a lot of potential for it," said one study leader, Dr. Richard Schlegel, pathology chief at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington. "Almost everyone could do it easily."

An independent expert agreed.


more @
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-health/20120926/US.MED.Cancer.Customizing.Care/

Good news.

I'm assuming that once the method is perfected, they could grow limitless cells of various cancers, distribute them, and have multiple teams doing tests on the cancer itself, rather than doing potentially dangerous studies on patients.