About us
BRAIN UK is a collaboration between NHS Neuropathology Centres across the UK, giving effective coverage of 90% of UK population. Brain Tumour Research and the British Neuropathological Society are currently supporting BRAIN UK.
The British Neuro-oncology Society, Brain Tumour Network, Medical Research Council and National Cancer Research Institute Brain Tumour Clinical Studies Group have provided input into and support for the project.
A brain bank is somewhere that stores brain and sometimes other neurological tissues for the purposes of ethically approved research. BRAIN UK (BRain Archive Information Network UK) is a virtual brain bank, in that it does not store any tissue samples itself but holds the location of where they are stored. In other words, it catalogues them in a centralised database. BRAIN UK’s samples are the tissues left over from diagnosis, either post-mortem or from living patients being operated on (i.e. biopsies). As a result, the tissue samples are located in the NHS archives of our collaborating NHS Neuropathology Centres. The aim is to make these already existing extensive archives available to the research community for high quality neurological research. To date we have access to over 550,000 cases, unlocking thousands of previously hard to access brain samples for researchers throughout the UK. We have ethical approval to grant projects access and use of central nervous system tissue.
These valuable tissue resources contain neurological conditions that do not currently attract dedicated brain bank funding (e.g. stroke) as well as psychiatric disorders (e.g. schizophrenia) and rare disorders (e.g. progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy). In addition, brain tumour tissue can be difficult for researchers to access, as many types of tumour are rare. However, BRAIN UK aims to catalogue in excess of 450,000 of the stored biopsies that are potentially available to research, helping to support a diverse range of research projects. In addition to tumours, the biopsies include other neurological conditions, peripheral nerve and muscle. Importantly, BRAIN UK also has many disease-free cases useful as controls.
Committee
The BRAIN UK Committee perform two functions – to review applications from researchers and to take an overview of BRAIN UK. The BRAIN UK Committee brings together those with expertise in clinical, neurological and neuroscience research along with lay representation to oversee our services and to formulate annual reports to the relevant regulatory bodies. The current BRAIN UK Committee is:
| Prof Delphine Boche | BRAIN UK Director |
| Dr David Hilton | BRAIN UK Co-Director and Founder |
| Prof Zane Jaunmuktane | BRAIN UK Co-PI/Chair of the BNS Academic Committee |
| Prof Kathreena Kurian | Brain Tumour Bank Network Lead |
| Prof Sebastian Brandner | Neuropathologist |
| Mr Ryan Mathew | Neurosurgical representative |
| Prof Stephen Gentleman | Neuroscientist |
| Dr William Stewart | Participating Centre representative |
| Dr Jillian Davis | Neuropathologist |
| Ms Katie Maciver | Participating Centre Tissue Bank representative |
| Dr Helen Bulbeck | Lay reviewer |
| Ms Dagmar Turner | Lay reviewer |
| Mr Paul Saunders | Lay reviewer |
| Ms Tabitha Bloom | BRAIN UK Project Manager |
| Ms Amelia Bradley | BRAIN UK Data and Governance |
| Ex-officio | |
| Prof James AR Nicoll | BRAIN UK ex-Director and Founder |
History
BRAIN UK is co-ordinated from the University of Southampton. Initially started in 2009, a collaboration by James Nicoll, at the University of Southampton, and David Hilton, at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust. The initiative was funded by the Medical Research Council, to access post-mortem cases. Thanks to the high level of co-operation of Neuropathologists throughout the UK, we could facilitate access to more than 100,000 archived post mortem cases from a wide range of neurological disorders.
Following on from this success, in April 2014, in collaboration with Kathreena Kurian, at University of Bristol, we extended the project to include details of tissue samples taken at operation from living patients (i.e. biopsies). This initiative was led by the brain tumour charity brainstrust and supported by a wider group of brain tumour charities including Charlie’s Challenge, Brain Tumour Research and umbrella group Sophie’s Wish.
To date, we could facilitate access to more than 450,000 archived biopsy cases from a wide range of neurological disorders, which are mostly, but not exclusively, tumour related. This will result in BRAIN UK becoming a very valuable resource for brain tumour research and investigation of other disorders not well represented in the post mortem archive.
Funders
Our funder |
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Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet just 1% of the national spend on cancer research is allocated to this devastating disease. This is unacceptable! Brain Tumour Research are striving to fund a network of seven dedicated research centres whilst challenging the government and larger cancer charities to invest more in brain tumour research. Funding Representative at the BRAIN UK Annual Business meeting: Dr Karen Noble (Director of Research, Policy and Innovation) |
Our supporter |
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The British Neuropathological Society celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2020 and continues to provide a friendly and active forum for both clinical and experimental neuropathology. Our membership is not geographically restricted and we welcome members from all continents. Through our regular meetings, the journal, and educational activities, we are bringing people together to understand diseases of the nervous system. |
Previous funders |
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brainstrust offers a unique UK wide support service to people who are living with brain cancer. |
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The Medical Research Council (MRC) improves the health of people in the UK – and around the world – by supporting excellent science, and training the very best scientists. |