Use tissue from the Parkinson's UK Brain Bank

It's vital that we study the whole brain from people with and without the condition, as well as investigating what's happening inside individual nerve cells.

Animal models can help us study certain aspects but they cannot recreate the complex changes that gradually spread throughout the Parkinson's brain.

Our tissue is:

• high quality - we collect most tissue within 24 hours of death
• fast - we aim to supply tissue within 4 weeks
• neuropathologically diagnosed - according to the latest criteria

And we can also:

• issue ethical approval for projects that fit our research criteria - saving you time
• provide tissue suitable for all modern research techniques - including snap frozen and fixed samples
• offer expertise and training to researchers working with human tissue
• provide information about our donors including clinical notes and detailed information about symptoms, medical history, lifestyle and medications

Requesting tissue is easy. Just fill in a brain bank tissue request form and send it to the tissue bank manager, Dr George Gveric at [email protected].

Your request 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 means you won't need to gain separate ethical approval to use tissue we supply.