Parkinson's Brain Bank - supporting researchers

The Parkinson's Brain Bank provides high-quality, well-characterised post-mortem tissue to researchers studying Parkinson's all over the world - including projects in the UK, Europe, USA and Canada.

We are keen to hear from researchers who can use our resources for studies investigating the causes, treatment and cure for Parkinson's.

Image: Slides of human brain sections, Science Photo Library

How can the Parkinson's Brain Bank help me?

What tissue is available to researchers?

What clinical information is available?

What expertise does the Parkinson's Brain Bank team have?

How can I request tissue?

How can the Parkinson's Brain Bank help me?

The Parkinson's Brain Bank has collected over 80,000 high quality samples of brain, spinal cord and cerebrospinal fluid from 340 individuals with or without Parkinson's.

Our inventory includes neuropathological diagnoses of:

• Parkinson's
• Young onset Parkinson's
• Parkinson's disease with dementia
• Dementia with Lewy bodies
• Young onset dementia with Lewy bodies
• Multiple system atrophy (MSA)
• Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)
• Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
• Dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's
• Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Alzheimer's
• Essential tremor
• Frontal temporal lobar degeneration with motor neurone disease
• Non-alpha synuclein parkinsonism and tremor

What tissue is available to researchers?

The Parkinson's Brain Bank aims to remove, collect and transport donor tissue to our laboratories within 24 hours.

Researchers can request fresh-frozen, formalin fixed-frozen or paraffin-embedded tissue in the form of blocks, slices or sections mounted on slides.

Within 24 hours of death	24-48 hours after death
Fresh tissue slices or blocks	Fixed hemisect
Snap frozen tissue blocks or sections	Fixed slices or blocks
Fixed embedded sections	Fixed embedded sections
Fixed frozen tissue blocks or sections	Fixed frozen tissue blocks or sections

Researchers can also request control and disease control cases matched for ante-mortem parameters such as age, sex, time, agonal state and pH. Postmortem parameters such as postmortem delay, freezing or fixation procedure and storage time are also available.

What clinical information is available?

All our tissue is well-characterised and accompanied by extensive anonymised background donor information.

Donors who pledge to donate their brain complete an initial lifestyle and medical history questionnaire. This covers key symptoms such as motor, cognition, hallucinations, autonomic, mood and sleep. We continually update this information with a disease progression questionnaire and medication sheet, which is completed by potential donors every 2 years.

For each case, researchers receive a detailed neuropathological report, clinical report and patient medical notes. Case information is securely accessed online through a unique account.

What expertise does the Parkinson's Brain Bank team have?

The Parkinson's Brain Bank team has considerable experience in tissue processing, immunological and histological techniques.

Our broad range of expertise encompasses:

• State of the art neuropathological diagnosis techniques
• Tissue microarray
• Immunohistochemistry
• Immunofluorescence
• Image analysis
• Morphometry
• Stereology
• Molecular genetics
• DNA extraction (from frozen and formaldeyde fixed material)
• RNA extraction

How can I request tissue?

• Complete the Parkinson's Brain Bank human tissue request form (Word, 170KB)
• Send completed forms to us - contact the Parkinson's Brain Bank

We do not charge for samples other than the necessary costs associated with tissue preparation and transport.

Request forms will be reviewed by our Management Board and a decision made within 3 weeks.

As a National Research Ethics Service (NRES) approved research tissue bank, we can grant ethical approval for peer-reviewed projects. This alleviates requirements for researchers to gain separate ethical approval for the use of the tissue we supply.

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