Brain Banks

This database lists brain banks around the world that collect central nervous system tissue from various neurodegenerative diseases and normal aging controls. The banks share samples and attendant demographic and clinical information with qualified researchers worldwide. Many brain banks operate as part of larger consortia that maintain virtual inventories of their combined holdings and offer a centralized portal to match tissue requests with local supplies. To find nearby brain banks, see the map and search below. If you would like to suggest additional information to be added to this listing, please contact brainbanks@alzforum.org. Read an in-depth 2015 news series about brain banks in neurodegenerative disease research. 

Brain Bank Consortia

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DZNE Brain Bank

DZNE maintains a brainbank at five different sites in Germany, at Bonn, Dresden, Munich, Rostock/Greifswald and Tübingen.

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The National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center

The National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center unites the collections of the neuropathology cores at 27 NIA-funded AD Research Centers into a single database. It contains records on 13,000 brains, 3,000 of them with extensive clinical and cognitive data.

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NIH NeuroBioBank

The NeuroBioBank links six U.S. repositories through a common web portal; its member banks store tissue largely from neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases other than Alzheimer’s disease. All tissue is collected using the same standardized protocol.

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UK Brain Bank Network

This network links 10 U.K. banks that together contain samples from more than 10,000 brains into one centralized, searchable database. Network members have adopted standardized protocols for tissue processing.

 

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144 RESULTS

Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna

Departimento die Scienze Neurologiche

Bologna, Italy

Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Center at Thomas Jefferson University

Thomas Jefferson University / Sidney Kimmel Medical College

Philadelphia, PA, United States

Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center

Brain Donation Autopsy Program

Houston, TX, United States

Alzheimer's Disease Center at NYU Langone

Center for Cognitive Neurology

New York, NY, United States

Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Emory University

Atlanta, GA, United States

The center has frozen tissue specimens from more than 500 patients with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's diseases, tauopathy, and other neurodegenerative disease. Also controls who participated in longitudinal studies during their lifetimes. About 30 frozen specimens and about 50 paraffin blocks of biopsied brain tissue, formalin-fixed, paraformaldehyde-fixed, or cryopreserved. Tissues are collected from whole brain, hemispheres, spinal cord, also fasted CSF. They are available to researchers fixed, frozen, block, or stained. Click here for details.

Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at University of Wisconsin

School of Medicine and Public Health

Madison, WI, United States

Alzheimer's Prevention Registry

Hosted by Banner Alzheimer's Institute

Sun City, AZ, United States

Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at University of Southern California

Memory and Aging Center

Los Angeles, CA, United States

This center only accepts brain tissue from patients evaluated, tested, and treated in its clinic for several years. The center keeps both healthy and diseased brains, but has more of the latter. It is connected to other organizations through the NIA ADC NACC program, and shares its tissues with many other research organizations, including City of Hope. 

Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases

Harvard Institutes of Medicine

Boston, MA, United States

Banner Sun Health Research Institute

Sun City, AZ, United States

This brain bank, biobank, and biospecimen bank derives its donors from the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease (AZSAND), a longitudinal clinicopathological study of elderly volunteers living in Maricopa county and metropolitan Phoenix. Studies focus on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, heart diseases, and cancer. Banked tissue, biomaterials and biospecimens are shared with qualified researchers worldwide.

Betty Martz Neurodegenerative Diseases and AD Research Corps

Washington University School of Medicine

St. Louis, MO, United States

This brain bank stores frozen tissue. All donations go in through the lab's clinical core, and have been tested and diagnosed. The lab shares brain tissue through its biospecimen core.

Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases

UT Health San Antonio

San Antonio, TX, United States

Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center

Boston University School of Medicine

Boston, MA, United States

Brain Bank at Karolinska Institutet

Stockholm, Sweden

The center accepts donations from residents of Sweden. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer’s disease, family history of Alzheimer’s, cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinson’s, CJD, Cadasil, schizophrenia, Down's syndrome, epilepsy, and spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA4). Tissue is taken from whole brain, hemispheres, and spinal cord; it is fixed, frozen, block, and stained. An ethical permit is required. Non-academic customers can contact the bank to inquire about prices. Tissue request forms are at www.ki.se/brainbank. For further questions, contact brainbank@nvs.ki.se.

Brain Bank for Aging Research

Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology

Tokyo, Japan

This brain bank is a joint project of the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, and its resources are for collaborative studies. Collaborative investigators must be qualified by the institute. Qualifying studies require authorization by the institute's institutional review board, the hospital, and each facility involved. The center regards its resources as being in the public domain.

Brain Bank Munich

Neurobiobank München

München, Germany

Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada

London, ON, Canada

The bank collects brain tumors and spinal cord tumors from patients at the University Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre, at the time of surgery. Samples of frozen tissue or paraffin blocks are available to researchers after approval by the bank's directors.

Brain UK

University of Southampton

Southampton, United Kingdom

This MRC-funded initiative supported by the British Neuropathological Society catalogs the diagnostic tissue holdings of U.K. neuropathology centres and makes these  archives available to the research community for high-quality neurological research. 

Brains for Dementia Research, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases

King's College London

London, United Kingdom

The center has a living cohort of over 3,000 participants (70 percent currently controls) who undergo periodic standardized assessments of cognition, behavior, mood, and ADLS. More than 350 people have died and their research-level neuropathological information is available to accompany the clinical information. Data and tissue are available to researchers around the world. 

Brown Brain Tissue Resource Center

Rhode Island Hospital

Providence, RI, United States

Donations are accepted from anyone over the age of 18, anyone with Alzheimer's disease or a family history of Alzheimer's, and anyone with any brain disease. Normal healthy brains are also needed. Donors are not charged, but $200 donations are appreciated.

Bryan Brain Bank and Biorepository

Duke/UNC ADRC

Durham, NC, United States

For nearly three decades, the Duke Kathleen Price Bryan Brain Bank and Biorepository has been recognized as a premier biorepository for Alzheimer’s disease science. The Brain Bank provides Duke researchers and academic and industry collaborators worldwide with access to longitudinal clinical information, quality biospecimens, and services to support and advance basic and clinical research. The Bryan Brain Bank and Biorepository is part of the Duke/UNC Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC), a collaborative effort working to identify the biological factors involved in normal brain aging and disease with the help of a diverse group of young and older people with and without memory impairments. Read more about the Duke/UNC ADRC here: https://dukeuncadrc.org/.

California NeuroAIDS Tissue Network

San Diego, CA, United States

The center accepts donations from residents of the Greater San Diego area. Some antemortem information is strongly preferred. Participants must be at least 18. The center focuses on HIV, but other neurologic conditions are not exclusionary. It collects whole brain and spinal cord, as well as limited systemic tissues. Samples are fixed, frozen, and paraffin-embedded. Samples include antemortem plasma, CSF, and PBMCs, as well as postmortem serum and non-fasting CSF. Requests can be submitted through the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium. Disbursements may be limited based on feasibility and qualifications. More information NNTC website.

Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Neuropathology Laboratory (Brain Bank)

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina

Charleston, SC, United States

The MUSC Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. Neuropathology Laboratory (“Brain Bank”) is a statewide resource for scientists involved in aging research. The Brain Bank has two components: (1) a web-based and paper-based registry that allows individuals interested in becoming donors to sign up and (2) a centralized collection center for brain tissue and related structures (including temporal bones) obtained after death for the purpose of research and to improve diagnosis. The Brain Bank accepts donations from residents of South Carolina of all ages. Donor diagnoses include Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinson's disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, early onset or age-related hearing loss, and other sensory disorders. Donations also are accepted from individuals with or without family histories of neurodegenerative disease and no recognizable symptoms of neurogenic disorders. 

Tissue samples are taken from brain, brainstem, cervical spinal cord and blood vessels including the carotid arteries. Fluids collected include CSF, aqueous/vitreous humors of the eye and blood. The Brain Bank also obtains temporal bones in collaboration with the MUSC Hearing Research Program to advance understanding of the mechanisms and effects of hearing loss and to improve diagnosis.

Samples of banked tissue, biomaterials and biospecimens are available to share with qualified researchers, as are tissue sections stained with various histochemical techniques.

Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

Springfield, IL, United States

The brain bank accepts donations from participants in its longitudinal or clinical studies. Phenotypes collected are Alzheimer’s disease, family history of Alzheimer’s, cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple system atrophy. Whole brain tissues are available and fixed, frozen, block, or stained, and are open to researchers after consultation with the director of the brain bank.

Center for Brain Health at NYU Langone

Department of Psychiatry

New York, NY, United States

Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA, United States

The center accepts brain/spinal cord and biofluid/DNA donations from participants followed in NIA- and NINDS-funded studies, within the parameters described in Toledo et al., 2013. Phenotypes include Alzheimer's disease, family history of Alzheimer's, cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, and Parkinson's disease. Tissue sites are whole brain, hemisphere, spinal cord, fasted CSF; samples are fixed, frozen, block, or stained. 

Chinese Brain Bank Center (CBBC)

South-Central University for Nationalities

Wuhan City, Hubei, China

The center accepts donations from residents of a specified geographical area who have longitudinal and/or clinical medical records. Phenotypes are collected for Alzheimer's disease, family history of Alzheimer's, cognitively normal, healthy normal, and brain damage. Whole brain, hemisphere, some spinal cord, and postmortem CSF tissues are fixed, frozen, block, or stained, and are available to researchers with permission from the government of China.

Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Chicago, IL, United States

The center accepts brain donations from Alzheimer's patients and cognitively normal controls who were seen at the center before death (family members can call the office to discuss feasibility of other donations). Samples available to researchers include brain tissue as paraformaldehyde-fixed wet tissue, paraffin blocks thereof, frozen unfixed, and unstained sections from selected regions; plasma from blood samples obtained from living subjects and controls; DNA extracted from leukocytes of blood samples from living individuals; and some postmortem CSF.

Dementia Research Center

Medical College of Wisconsin

Milwaukee, WI, United States

Donations are accepted from residents of southeastern Wisconsin who have been seen at the center and involved in longitudinal and/or clinical studies. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, and tauopathy. Whole-brain tissues are fixed or frozen, and available to researchers only by invitation from the primary investigator.

Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

Mayo Clinic

Rochester, MN, United States

The clinic banks brain tissue but does not accept donations from outside the Mayo system unless requested by one of its doctors.  

Douglas - Bell Canada Brain Bank

Douglas Institute

Verdun, QC, Canada

The brain bank accepts donations from residents of Quebec Province with longitudinal or clinical records. Phenotypes collected for most neurodegenerative diseases, healthy brain, mental disorders, and suicide victims. Whole brain, hemisphere, and some spinal cord tissues are available to researchers fixed, frozen, and sometimes block. Projects must be approved by the Research Ethics Board or Institutional Review Board.

DZNE Brain Bank

'Biomaterial Bank of Postmortem Brain Tissue for the Research on Neurodegenerative Diseases

Tübingen, Germany

DZNE maintains a brainbank at five different sites in Germany, at Bonn, Dresden, Munich, Rostock/Greifswald and Tübingen.

Edinburgh Brain and Tissue Bank

University of Edinburgh, Centre for Molecular Medicine

Scotland, United Kingdom

Funded by the MRC, this consortium includes the University of Edinburgh (lead research organization) and its collaborators University College London and Alzheimer Scotland. It links to the Sudden Death Brain and Tissue Bank, HIV Brain and Tissue Bank, and CJD Brain and Tissue Bank, all funded by the Medical Research Council.

    El Banco de Tejidos para Investigaciones Neurológicas de Madrid

    University Complutense of Madrid, Faculty of Medicine

    Madrid, Spain

    France Alzheimer

    Union of Associations France Alzheimer and related diseases

    Paris, France

    Garrison Institute on Aging Brain Bank Program

    Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

    Lubbock, TX, United States

    Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases

    University of Texas Health San Antonio

    San Antonio, TX, United States

    Greater Manchester Neuroscience Centre

    Eccles, Salford, United Kingdom

    Harold and Muriel Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore

    Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University

    Bronx, NY, United States

    Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center

    McLean Hospital

    Belmont, MA, United States

    The center currently accepts only fresh brain donations from the general population, and does not bank Alzheimer's brains or brains with unspecified dementia. Normal controls are welcome, as are brains affected with Lewy Body, frontotemporal dementia, Pick’s disease, corticobasal degeneration, multiple system atrophy, Parkinson's, ALS, Huntington’s, MS, progressive supranuclear palsy, seizure disorder, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and chronoic traumatic encephalopathy, as well as some neurodevelopmental disorders such as Aspberger's, Batten’s disease, and Down’s syndrome. Click here for the full list. Tissues are taken from whole brains and are available to researchers fresh, fixed, or frozen.

    Hospices Civils de Lyon

    Centre de Pathologie et Neuropathologie Est

    Lyon, France

    Hospital de Bellvitge/Universitat de Barcelona

    Institut de Neuropatologia, Seervei Anatomia Patologica

    Barcelona, Spain

    Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Resource Center

    University of California, Los Angeles

    Los Angeles, CA, United States

    The center collects, stores, and distributes pre- and postmortem tissues including brain, spinal cord, CSF, serum, blood cells, and urine. The center maintains inventories of its tissue and fluid samples and makes them available for scientists without a clinical site. The center has no donor age limit, but does not accept brain tissue from people with tuberculosis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or people who were on a respirator before death.

    Human Brain Collection Core (HBCC)

    National Institute of Mental Health

    Rockville, MD, United States

    Human Brain Tissue Bank Budapest

    Department of Anatomy, Semmelweis University

    Budapest, Hungary

    Microdissection of more than 130 different brain nuclei is performed on frozen brains. These samples are approved for neurochemistry, neuroendocrine, molecular biology, proteomic and genomic studies. Short postmortem delay: most brains are removed from the skull and frozen two to six hours after death.

    Human Tissue Bank, Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre

    Addenbrooke's Hospital, Department of Histopathology

    Cambridge, United Kingdom

    The center has a wide range of fresh, frozen, paraffin processed and sectioned tissue for translational research and drug-discovery purposes.

    Human Tissue Procurement Facility (HTPF)

    Case Western Reserve University

    Cleveland, OH, United States

    Indiana University School of Medicine

    Department of Pathology

    Indianapolis, IN, United States

    The center collects brain and other CNS tissues (mostly spinal cord) from normal and diseased donors. Tissues are available fresh and frozen. There are no restrictions on donation, though autopsy is available on a fee basis to people outside of research. The center shares samples with scientists. 

    Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities

    NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities

    Staten Island, NY, United States

    Interdisciplinary Bank of Biomaterials and Data Würzburg

    Univeritätsklinikum Würzburg

    Würzburg, Germany

    Iowa NeuroBank Core

    Iowa Neuroscience Institute

    Iowa City, IA, United States

    (Not accepting donors)

    Iowa Neuropathology Resource Laboratory

    University of Iowa

    Iowa City, IA, United States

    The bank accepts donors from the state of Iowa and on a case-by-case basis from outside. It accepts and fulfills requests from across the country for fresh frozen tissue, fixed tissue, unstained slides, and immunostaining. Requests can be submitted online here: Request INRL Services.

    Istituto Nazionale Neurologico Carlo Besta

    Division of Neuropathology and Neurology 5

    Milano, Italy

    JHMI Brain Resource Center

    Johns Hopkins Medical Institute

    Baltimore, MD, United States

    Klinisches Institut für Neurologie

    Medical University of Vienna

    Vienna, Austria

    The institute coordinates the Medical University of Vienna Biobank and is responsible for the Neurobiobank in this consortium.

    Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

    Washington University School of Medicine

    St. Louis, MO, United States

    The center collects, processes, stores, and distributes samples, including longitudinal samples, from its research participants. Collections are taken from donors in their 40s to late 90s in a limited geographic area. Nigel Cairns leads the neuropathology core for DIAN samples; the fluid biomarker core leader Ann Fagan, (314) 362-3453, fagana@neuro.wustl.edu, handles CNS tissue samples. The center receives fasted cerebrospinal fluid and matched plasma samples; genetics core Alison Goate collects DNA from blood and non-fasted plasma. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer's disease, family history of Alzheimer's, cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, and Parkinson's disease. Samples taken include whole brain, hemisphere, and spinal cord, and fasted CSF. Fixed, frozen, block, and stained tissues are available to researchers after review by an external committee.

    Kuopio Brain Bank

    University of Eastern Finland

    Kuopio, Finland

    London Institute of Psychiatry

    King's College Hospital, Department of Clinical Neuropathology

    London, United Kingdom

    Manhattan HIV Brain Bank

    Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

    New York, NY, United States

    Maritime Brain Tissue Bank

    Dalhousie University

    Halifax, NS, Canada

    The center accepts donations. Phenotypes include Alzheimer's disease, family history of Alzheimer's, cognitively normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinson's, vascular dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's, and multiple system atrophy. Tissues collected include hemisphere and occasional spinal cord, and are availabe to researchers fixed or frozen.

    Massachusetts General Hospital Neuro-oncology Tissue Repository

    Charlestown, MA, United States

    The brain bank accepts donations from people with brain tumors, from both the general population and brain studies participants. Tissues are taken from primary and secondary tumors in the CNS; from patients with neurofibromatosis and tuberous sclerosis; surgical specimens (discarded tissues); and autopsy specimens. Tissues can be fixed, frozen, block, or stained, and are available for any researchers after review by committee, though preference is given to in-house researchers.

    Mayo Clinic Jacksonville

    Jacksonville, FL, United States

    This brain bank accepts brain donations from inside and outside of Mayo Clinic, and provides tissue samples to a wide range of investigators.  It banks and shares AD and controls, and also accepts, diagnoses, banks and shares samples from LBD, MSA, PD, PSP, CBD, FTD, ALS, and other conditions.

    Medical University of Vienna

    Institute of Neurology

    Wien, Austria

    Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center

    Ann Arbor, MI, United States

    Michigan Brain Bank

    University of Michigan

    Ann Arbor, MI, United States

    Motor Neurone Disease Research Tissue Bank

    The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health

    Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Mount Sinai NIH Brain and Tissue Repository

    Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

    Bronx, NY, United States

    MRC London Neurodegenerative Diseases Brain Bank

    King's College London

    London, United Kingdom

    The center accepts donations from participants in longitudinal or clinical studies. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer's disease, family history of Alzheimer's, cognitively normal, cognitively healthy, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinsons', and any other neurodegenerative/neurological or psychiatric disease. Tissue collected postmortem: whole brain, hemisphere, spinal cord. Samples are available to researchers fixed or frozen.

    MS Research Australia Brain Bank

    Brain and Mind Research Institute

    Camperdown, NSW, Australia

    The clinic collects brain and spinal cord tissue from people with multiple sclerosis who have participated in longitudinal and/or clinical studies, and shares them with other scientists subject to ethics approval. Tissues include whole brain and spinal cord, and are available fixed, frozen, block, or stained.

    Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Tissue Bank

    Centre for Brain Sciences, Imperial College London

    London, United Kingdom

    Accepts donations from U.K. residents with MS or other conditions, and healthy volunteers who register with the bank. Donors must have longitudinal and/or clinical/medical records. Phenotypes collected include multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple sclerosis, and brain tumors. The bank collects tissues and fluid from the entire brain and spinal cord, a sample of postmortem CSF, a small sample of muscle from the back, and a limited number of muscle, pituitary and pineal glands, and gut samples. Tissues can be fixed, frozen, block, stained, free for cell culture, DNA, RNA. All requests must be approved by an independent panel of experts and lay people. Priority is given to MS and PD studies.

    National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center

    Seattle, WA, United States

    The center unites the collections of the neuropathology cores at 27 NIA-funded AD Research Centers into a single database. It contains records on 13,000 brains, 3,000 of them with extensive clinical and cognitive data.

    National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

    School of Medicine

    Athens, Greece

    National Dementia BioaBank México

    Cuautitlán Izcalli, MEX, Mexico

    National Disease Research Interchange

    Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This center partners with hospitals to procure brain tissue for approved research studies on request.

    National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences

    Human Brain Tissue Repository

    Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

    Bethesda, MD, United States

    The center lists brain and tissue banks on its website.

    National Institute on Aging

    Alzheimer's Disease Education and Referral Center

    Bethesda, MD, United States

    Some of the NIA's centers accept brain donations from research study participants.

    National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium

    Rockville, MD, United States

    Netherlands Brain Bank

    Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Donations are accepted from Netherlands residents who have provided a full medical file. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer’s disease, family history of Alzheimer’s, cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s, narcolepsia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, ADHD, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Tissues are collected from whole brain and hemispheres, and some spinal cord. Postmortem CSF is available.

    Neuro-Cérébrothèque, France Parkinson

    Platform Biological Resources

    Paris CEDEX 13, France

    Neurological Foundation of New Zealand Human Brain Bank

    Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland

    Grafton, AUK, New Zealand

    The brain bank houses one of the most extensive collections of human brain tissue in the southern hemisphere, comprising nine different neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), epilepsy and schizophrenia. The bank also contains more than 70 normal brains.

    Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource

    Henry Wellcome Building for Neuroecology, Newcastle University

    Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

    NIH NeuroBioBank

    United States

    The NeuroBioBank links six U.S. repositories through a common web portal; its member banks store tissue largely from neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases other than Alzheimer’s. All tissue is collected using the same standardized protocol.      

    NSW Brain Bank Network

    Australia

    The network's pre-mortem donor program, “Using our Brains," accepts donors 18 and older within a specified geographical area. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer’s disease, family history of Alzheimer’s, cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinson’s, substance and alcohol abuse, schizophrenia, bipolar, and depression. Tissues collected: whole brain and spinal cord. Samples are available fixed, frozen, block, and stained for neuropathology report and research purposes. Samples are available at a cost to researchers with ethical approval for their projects, and applications are reviewed by a scientific committee. 

    NSW Tissue Resource Centre

    The University of Sydney NSW

    Sydney, NSW, Australia

    The NSW Brain Tissue Resource Centre (BTRC) provides well-charecterised, high-quality tissue to the neuroscientific research community who have contributed to understanding the framework, composition and functioning of the human brain and the nature of neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.

    The BTRC provides tissue both nationally and internationally. Some of the major research areas supported by the collections include alcohol use disorder, neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, and other neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s Disease and ALS. 

    Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

    Columbus, OH, United States

    The center accepts donations from participants in its own longitudinal and clinical studies. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer's disease, family history of Alzheimer's, cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, Parkinson's, vascular dementia, and mixed dementia cases. Tissue is collected from brain hemispheres, and is available frozen. Non-fasted CSF and some postmortem CSF, serum, and plasma are also available. Samples are available to researchers with a research protocol approved by the center's committee.

    Oregon Brain Bank

    Oregon Health & Science University

    Portland, OR, United States

    Tissues are collected and diagnoses are established using procedures shared between the Neuropathology Cores of the Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Centers. Flash-frozen tissues are obtained from nearly all donors, with extensive sampling in select instances. In most cases, 22 sections are taken following formalin fixation from all lobes of the left and right hemispheres, the white matter, deep gray structures, brainstem, cerebellum, and spinal cord. Sections are stained with hematoxylin and eosin/Luxol fast blue, Bielschowski silver staining, Congo Red, and for hyperphosphorylated tau and α-synuclein by immunohistochemistry.

    Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer’s disease, family history of Alzheimer’s cognitively normal, healthy normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, and Parkinson’s. Fixed, frozen, block, and stained samples are available, and special tissue preparations can be collected. Postmortem ventricular fluid is collected.

    Any investigator may request tissue. A materials transfer agreement between Oregon Health and Science University must be executed before tissues can be shipped. If corresponding clinical data is necessary, a data use agreement with the ADC must be executed as well.

    Pacific Northwest Dementia and Aging Neuropathology Group (PANDA)

    University of Washington Medicine Pathology

    Seattle, WA, United States

    Pusan National University Hospital Brain Bank

    Busan-si, 26, Korea, Republic of

    Queen Square Brain Bank

    Institute of Neurology - University College London

    London, United Kingdom

    The center holds a unique archive of brains donated by individuals with neurodegenerative disease and neurologically normal controls. It specializes in parkinsonian movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy and holds the national collection of brains donated by individuals with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Recently the collection has been developed to include donated brains from prospectively studied people with familial dementias. Brain tissue is stored as formalin-fixed, wax embedded blocks and is frozen, either at –20 °C or at –80 °C (flash-frozen). Tissue can be provided to researchers as slide-mounted sections, or as small blocks for neurochemistry, proteomics and DNA and RNA analysis.

    Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center

    Rush University Medical Center

    Chicago, IL, United States

    The center does not accept donations.  Collection is limited to participants in longitudinal research projects conducted by the center. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer's disease, cognitively normal, healthy normal, demential with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, tauopathy, and Parkinson's. Tissues are collected from whole brain, hemispheres, and spinal cord, and CSF is collected postmortem. Samples are available fixed, frozen, block, and stained.   Longitudinal clinical, imaging, cognitive testing and other data are available with tissue samples. 

    Samsung Medical Center

    Department of Neurology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine

    Seoul, 11, Korea, Republic of

    Schizophrenia Research Institute

    Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia

    Seoul National University Hospital Brain Bank

    Seoul, 11, Korea, Republic of

    Sheffield Brain Tissue Bank

    University of Sheffield, Department of Neuroscience

    Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

    SBTB consists of two cohorts of central nervous system tissue from autopsy donations: a local donor cohort of brain and spinal cord tissues from patients with motor neurone disease, Parkinson's disease,and dementias; and the MRC's Cognitive Function & Ageing Study (CFAS) brain donor cohort, which has more than 540 donations. Tissues are available to researchers after ethical approval.

    Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center

    University of California San Diego

    La Jolla, CA, United States

    This brain bank rarely accepts de-novo donations, instead drawing on its Alzheimer's research center, which follows patients longitudinally. Tissues available are in formalin, paraffin, tissue blocks, or frozen fresh, and open to any researcher.  

    South Australian (SA) Brain Bank

    Flinders University

    Adelaide, SA, Australia

    South West Dementia Brain Bank

    University of Bristol

    Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Stanford/VA Aging Clinical Research Center

    VA Palo Alto Health Care System 151Y

    Palo Alto, CA, United States

    Stanley Brain Collection

    Stanley Medical Research Institution

    Chevy Chase, MD, United States

    The center has five cohorts available for study: the Neuropathology Consortium, Array Collection, New Collection, Depression Collection, and the Parietal Collection. Researchers agree to study all samples requested. The specimens were collected by participating medical examiners between January 1995 and June 2002, and processed and stored in a standardized way.

    Sydney Brain Bank

    Neuroscience Research Australia

    Randwick, NSW, Australia

    The brain bank receives brain and spinal cord donations from individuals enrolled during life in one of its nine affiliated brain donor programs. Donors must live in New South Wales and be older than 18 years. The bank collects tissue from donors with sporadic and familial forms of a number of disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s, frontotemporal dementia, multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, Huntington’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as from individuals with mild cognitive impairment and healthy donors. Donors with lookalike or related disorders may also be eligible. 

    For the majority of cases, one hemisphere is fixed in formalin for cellular and histological analysis and the other is frozen. The bank also takes standardized blocks from every case for tissue characterisation and classification. Tissues can be accessed by accredited researchers for ethically approved research studies. All applications are reviewed by the independent scientific review committee of the NSWBB and assessed on feasibility and scientific merit. 

    The French National Brain Bank Neuro-CEB

    Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital

    Paris, France

    Thomas Willis Oxford Brain Collection

    Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing

    Headington, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Tygerberg Hospital

    University of Stellenbosch

    Cape Town, South Africa

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

    VA Biorepository Brain Bank (VABBB)

    Boston, MA, United States

    This site includes information for the brain donation, specimen research, and biobanking for the VABBB. The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (GWVIB) brain banks are both a part of the Department of Veterans Affairs Biorepository Brain Bank (VABBB), and its website recruits for healthy control participants

    UCSF Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank

    Memory and Aging Center

    San Francisco, CA, United States

    The center accepts tissue donations from participants in longitudinal and/or clinical medial studies run by its doctors, as well as some other donors. Phenotypes collected include Alzheimer’s disease, family history of Alzheimer’s, cognitively normal, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementias including tauopathy, Parkinson’s, ALS, vascular dementia, and mixed dementia. Whole-brain, hemisphere, and a subset of spinal-cord tissues are fixed, frozen, or blocked and available to researchers after a review process.

    UK Brain Banks Network

    Medical Research Council

    Bristol, United Kingdom

    The network provides high-quality brain tissue to scientists and clinicians and supports major initiatives on research into neurological disorders, including the aims of the Ministerial Action Group on Dementia Research. The Medical Research Council established this network, which is also supported by the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research U.K. It comprises 10 brain banks throughout the U.K., and maintains two head offices, one in Swindon and the other at One Kemble St., London WC2B 4AN.

    These 10 banks together contain samples from more than 10,000 brains in one centralized, searchable database. Network members have adopted standardized protocols for tissue processing. The network has made the collection of brains from healthy controls a priority. The organization runs a longitudinal study on 3,000 volunteers, more than half of whom are controls. The brain bank accepts tissue requests from researchers worldwide.

    Universitätsmedizen Göttingen

    Institut für Neuropathologie

    Göttingen, Germany

    Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris

    Centre d'Etude, de Ressource et de Veille en Neuropathologie de la Salpêtrière, Paris

    Paris, France

    University of Cincinnati Memory Disorders Center

    UC Neuroscience Institute

    Cincinnati, OH, United States

    University of Edinburgh

    Western General Hospital

    Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    University of Florida Neuromedicine Human Brain and Tissue Bank

    University of Florida Human Brain and Tissue Bank

    Gainesville, FL, United States

    The University of Florida Human Brain and Tissue Bank (UF HBTB) is a repository of human tissue that strives to advance research in the field of neurodegeneration. The UF HBTB is supported by the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), the McKnight Brain institute, and the Center for Translational Research for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Florida. It is a resource for patients, caregivers, and researchers to better understand neurological diseases. The brain bank accepts donors, who are 18 years and older, anywhere in the United States. Examining the brain after death is the only way to verify a clinical diagnosis of a neurodegenerative or memory disorder. Not only does the brain bank accept those with neurodegenerative or memory disorder diagnoses, but it also accepts healthy donors, meaning they do not have a diagnosis for neurodegeneration. Brain tissue provides valuable information to the scientists who work to understand these neurological diseases. Brain bank scientists hope that many people who understand the importance of research are able to help future research efforts by agreeing to donate their brain after they die. The generous gift of brain donation helps researchers to understand the disease changes and determine effectiveness of therapies on the disease process. This allows people to contribute for many years after their death. All tissues in the brain bank are available to credentialed researchers. Please contact the brain bank if you would like to enroll as a donor, to find out more information, or to make a tissue request.

    University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Center

    Sanders-Brown Center on Aging

    Lexington, KY, United States

    University of Kuopio

    Department of Neuroscience and Neurology

    Kuopio, Finland

    University of Maryland Brain & Tissue Bank

    University of Maryland School of Medicine

    Baltimore, MD, United States

    The brain and tissue bank is part of the NIH NeuroBioBank. It and collects, stores, and distributes brain and other tissues. Tissues are either fixed or frozen. The NIH NeuroBioBank handles all requests for samples.

    University of Massachusetts Medical School

    Worcester, MA, United States

    Specimens can be requested online.

    University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank

    Miami, FL, United States

    The center links clinical and pathological data on each case. It encourages donations from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients, as well as healthy older people, and maintains a registry of more than 800 live donors. All brain tissue is procured, stored, and distributed according to applicable regulations and guidelines involving consent, protection of human subjects and donor anonymity. Brain tissue specimens are provided to researchers in academia and industry. Researchers may apply online; review usually requires three to six weeks.

    University of Rochester Medical Center

    Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

    Rochester, NY, United States

    University of Texas at El Paso

    Psychology Department

    El Paso, TX, United States

    University of Texas Medical Branch

    Pathology Department

    Galveston, TX, United States

    University of Wuerzburg

    Clinical Neurochemistry

    Wuerzburg, Germany

    VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank

    Boston, MA, United States

    Victorian Brain Bank

    The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health

    Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine

    Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria

    Southbank, VIC, Australia

    Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic

    University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

    Pittsburgh, PA, United States

    Wien Center For Alzheimer's Disease & Memory Disorders

    Mount Sinai Medical Center

    Miami Beach, FL, United States