4,000+ Human postmortem brains
Brains are donated to the repository by next of kin, and the samples come with confirmed diagnoses from a spectrum of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, depression and anxiety disorders. The repository also includes tissue from neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease; traumatic brain disorders, suicide victims, and healthy individuals across the human lifespan. Notably, the Institute has assembled over 150 brains with a known diagnosis of PTSD, the biggest collection of human postmortem brains with PTSD in the world. This unique asset helped to solidify the Institute as the Veteran’s Administration’s most critical provider of tissue for the study of PTSD.
In order to increase the current rate of sample collection, we have expanded our effort through the establishment of collection sites in North Dakota, Michigan and California. We anticipate that the new sites will not only increase the rate of collection to upwards of 500 cases-per-year, but also help to diversify the samples based on populations in these regions.
