26 March 2012

MRC to Fund Retrieval, Transport and Diagnosis of Donated Brains

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is to commit almost £1.5 million of extra funding to support the UK Brain Banks Network. The funding will be used to enable the collection and transport of tissue to the bank and a primary diagnosis for hospital clinicians, GPs and families. Brain tissue donation must take place as soon as possible after death, ideally within 48 hours in order for it to be useful to researchers.

The MRC established the Network in 2009 with the aim of giving researchers guidance and support in regard to access, protocols and procedures relating to the donation of brain tissue. The Network aims to increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the operation. A major part of this is the sharing among researchers of brain tissue from people who have not shown signs of neurodegeneration in order to compare healthy and diseased brains. This “control tissue” is vital for dementia research.

Brain Banks provide a rich source of human tissue that has already made a huge contribution to progress in the neurosciences, through research into disease aetiology, diagnosis and treatment.

Dr Rob Buckle, Head of Neurosciences and Mental Health at the Medical Research Council, said: “Diseases of the central nervous system, particularly dementias, remain a major cause of death and disease in our society. This funding will help ensure researchers have access to brain tissue - both healthy and diseased - to better understand the abnormal mechanisms operating in these diseases, and to develop new approaches to treatment. We are extremely grateful to donors and their families for their altruistic donation and improvements in the logistics of the collection of tissue will ensure a boost in the number of organs that can be used in research. The funding will also enable families to receive a diagnosis of the disease from which their relative or partner suffered.”

When combined with other funding committed to the support of the UK Brain Bank Network, this investment will bring the MRC’s total investment in the scheme to £3m over the next two to three years. In addition to funding from the MRC and NHS, the 10 UK Brain Banks are also funded by a number of charities (Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Parkinson’s UK, Multiple Sclerosis Society and Austistica).

For more information about the UK Brain Banks Network: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Ourresearch/Resourceservices/UKBrainBanksnetwork/index.htm