Research on human tissue needs to be assessed to ensure that the proposed research is of high quality, safe and is ethical. For BRAIN UK this is performed by a licenced Research Ethics Committee (REC). BRAIN UK, was granted ‘favourable opinion’ (Ref:14/SC/0098) from the South Central – Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee in 2014, which was renewed in 2019 (Ref:19/SC/0217) and again, in 2024 (Ref: 24/SC/0044). This has allowed us to continue collecting post-mortem and biopsy data on central nervous system tissues that may be suitable for ethically approved research, from our collaborating centres. This data is anonymised and consists of diagnosis, simple demographics and tissue format.

As part of this ‘favourable opinion’, we are able to offer studies utilising BRAIN UK central nervous system tissue ‘generic ethical approval’, subject to scrutiny and approval by our committee. This will, in most cases, enable studies to proceed without researchers being required to obtain their own ethical approval, representing a significant time saving. In addition, it may also be possible to access associated clinical data in an anonymised format, subject to approvals.

See Document Library for documents on how we manage this process.