The Oxford Brain Bank
Research type
Research Tissue Bank
IRAS ID
324513
Research summary
The Oxford Brain Bank
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/SC/0241
Date of REC Opinion
1 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion
Data collection arrangements
The Oxford Brain Bank (OBB) facilitates the collection, storage and use in research of brains and spinal cords from deceased donors with or without neurological diseases. OBB stores extensive existing holdings from deceased donors, as well as paired samples collected during life for participants in longitudinal cohort studies which have ended. OBB collects samples from deceased participants in the bank’s supported clinical cohorts, in the fields of dementia research, Parkinson’s disease and related diseases, Motor Neurone Disease, demyelinating diseases and traumatic brain injuries. OBB recruits control donors by collaborating with the local NHS trust’s service who collects post-mortem samples for human application.
OBB stores clinical and pathological data alongside the samples; consent is sought from donors to access their medical records to extract information about disease duration and progression, treatment and comorbidities. Collaborating clinical cohorts also provide data about their participants who consent to taking part in OBB.
Informed consent is sought from participants during life by trained, delegated staff from OBB or from a potential donor’s clinical team. Alternatively, OBB may obtain consent from a potential donor’s representative after the donor’s death.Research programme
The scope of research supported by the OBB is broad. The resource is intended to support the work of the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (NDCN), and any other research team in the UK or abroad, whether in academic or commercial settings, with a valid and ethical project. The OBB has a long history of providing high-quality biosamples and data to researchers investigating the healthy functioning and development of the human nervous system, as well as neurological and psychiatric diseases.
Storage license
12217
RTBTitle
The Oxford Brain Bank
Establishment organisation
University of Oxford
Establishment organisation address
Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
John Radcliffe Hospital, Neuropathology, West Wing level 1
Headley Way
OX3 9DU