A network of four UK Brain Banks in Edinburgh, London, Newcastle and Oxford will supply human tissue samples—from both diseased and healthy brains—to researchers studying dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and motor neurone disease. Human tissue is essential for understanding what goes wrong in complex brain disorders. Animal models and cell cultures cannot fully replicate the intricate biology of a living human brain. Without access to high-quality, ethically sourced post-mortem tissue, researchers cannot test their hypotheses about disease mechanisms or validate potential drug targets. The banks also collect normal tissue for use as controls, which is critical for distinguishing disease-specific changes from normal ageing. This research underpins the entire UK neuroscience pipeline. If the banks operate efficiently, they will reduce the time researchers spend waiting for samples—currently a major bottleneck—and allow faster testing of new treatments. Past work using these banks has already contributed to the development of drugs for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The database of available samples, searchable online, lets scientists request exactly what they need without duplicating collection efforts. The banks’ operating costs are lower than comparable facilities in Europe and the US, making this a cost-effective way to sustain a national research infrastructure.
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This application plans to support research into the causes and potential treatment of a range of diseases affecting the brain, some of which have been identified as priorities for research, such as dementia. The UK has a network of established Brain Banks that provide human tissue samples to a wide range of researchers. Human tissue samples have allowed a better understanding of the mechanisms operating in these complex disorders and have already aided the development of treatments for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. This application will support four Brain Banks in Edinburgh, London, Newcastle and Oxford. These banks each have areas of particular interest, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and motor neurone disease. However, in addition to the collection of tissues samples from patients with brain disorders, it is also essential to collect normal tissue samples for use as controls in research. Two of the Banks have a major focus in this area, so this application will support the collection of both disease and normal tissue samples. The banks will support scientific research by providing human tissue samples in an efficient and cost effective manner, while ensuring the samples provided are of the high quality required by researchers. The banks have worked to improve their efficiency, reducing the time required to provide the samples to researchers. Details of the samples available in each of the banks are included in a database, which is accessible through the internet. This allows researchers to see what samples are available and how to request these samples for their research in an easy way that will save time and speed up progress. All four Brain Banks in this application have approval form an Ethics Committee, to ensure that their working practices meet nationally agreed standards that apply to work with human tissue samples. The work of each Bank is overseen by a local steering committee that includes members of the public and ethics experts as well as scientists and pathologists. Brain Banking is expensive, but the operating costs of these four banks are far less than their equivalents in Europe and in the USA. The challenges of developing treatments for complex diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are considerable, but the Brain Banks in this application will play an important role in underpinning the scientific research in these national priority areas.
Colin Smith (Co-Investigator)James Ironside (Principal Investigator)Johannes Attems (Co-Investigator)Olaf Ansorge (Co-Investigator)Safa Al Saraj (Co-Investigator)
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