Cell/Tissue/DNA

Various neuroscience reagents and resources can be obtained by researchers, including human DNA, brain bank tissue and stem cell lines.

National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium
Brain Banks
NINDS Genetics Repository

AIDS Tissue Resource

The National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC) collects, stores, and distributes samples of nervous tissue, cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and other tissue from HIV-infected individuals. The NNTC has been supported by NIMH and NINDS since 1998 and operates through a National Coordinating Office and four regional centers: the Texas NeuroAIDS Research Center; the California NeuroAIDS Tissue Network; the National Neurological AIDS Bank; and the Manhattan HIV Brain Bank. The mission of the NNTC is to provide high quality and well-characterized tissue samples from patients who died with HIV, including neuromedical and neuropsychiatric data gathered antemortem, to scientists studying the effects of HIV on the human brain. Since NNTC inception 2,158 participants have been enlisted for clinical evaluation and tissue donation. As of February 14, 2008, 723 central nervous system specimens from both HIV-infected and control subjects have been collected with an additional 1,450 blood samples available, 710 participates have at least three serial samples and 917 CSF samples available obtained from the NNTC patient cohort. NNTC encourages researchers to request tissues and/or clinical data for ancillary studies.

Related Sites:
National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium
NIH Neuroscience Blueprint

Contact:
Dr. May Wong, Program Director, NINDS

Brain Banks

The Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Resource Center was created to help provide specimens  related to neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases and disorders. The Center is associated with the Veterans Administration of Greater Los Angeles and is supported jointly with NINDS, NIMH and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The Center collects, stores, and distributes the highest quality and quantity of pre- and post-mortem tissues and fluids: brains, spinal cords, cerebrospinal fluid, serum, blood cells and urine. In addition the Center can provide neurological tissue from subjects with neurological disorders as well as control tissues from family members or other donors for use in research toward identifying treatments and cures for neurological diseases.

Related Sites:
Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Resource Center
NIH Neuroscience Blueprint

Contact:
Dr. May Wong, Program Director, NINDS



The Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center is a centralized resource for the collection and distribution of human brain specimens for brain research. Utilizing postmortem brain tissue from the center scientists have been able to develop genetic tests for Huntington's and Parkinson's disease. In addition, neurochemical and anatomical studies are being performed focusing on the biological nature of severe mental illnesses with the hope to eventually understand the underlying brain mechanisms associated with psychosis and other brain disorders. The Brain Bank also provides normal control tissue for neuroscience research.

Related Sites:
Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center
NIH Neuroscience Blueprint

Contact:
Dr. Beth-Anne Sieber, Program Director, NINDS

NINDS Genetics Repository

The aim of the NINDS Cell Repository is to store and distribute genetics samples and clinical data to aid in the discovery of genes involved in neurological disorders. The repository is an NINDS-funded contract to the Coriell Institute for Medical Research that banks and distributes cell lines and DNA for neurological disease. The available high quality DNA is accompanied by excellent clinical data. The repository aims to bank a large number of samples to generate the statistical power necessary to detect the moderate effects of a single susceptibility gene in studies such as whole genome analyses. Currently the repository has samples with the following diagnoses: Parkinson's disease (~1792 available), cerebrovascular disease and stroke (~3804 available), epilepsy (~454 available), motor neuron disease (~2103 available), and Tourette's disorder (~83 available). The repository also banks and distributes control samples (~3036 available). Finally, samples with known Mendelian mutations are also available. Academic and industry-sponsored investigators may deposit or withdraw samples and there is a negotiable grace period of two years after sample submission. Future plans include adding additional neurological disorders, continued banking of samples, standard control characterization between repositories, the generation of a data dictionary and increased database capabilities to include SNP genotyping data, pharmacogenetic data and large project data integration.

Related Sites:
NINDS Cell Repository
NIH Neuroscience Blueprint

Contact:
Dr. Laura Mamounas, Program Director, NINDS
Dr. Laurie Gutmann, Program Director, NINDS
Dr. Ran Zhang, Program Analyst, NINDS