BRAIN UK is working with the Tissue Bank below to facilitate access to biobank resources for BRAIN UK supported studies:

Brain Tumour North West Tissue Bank

BRAIN UK is working with the Sydney Driscoll Neuroscience Foundation Brain Tumour North West (BTNW) Tissue Bank to facilitate access to samples (frozen tissue, blood, serum, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) etc) matched to tissue received from NHS diagnostic archives via BRAIN UK.

Tumour studies, in particular, often seek matched serum samples alongside tissue samples. Whilst blood/serum/cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples etc are available within neuropathology archives, they are limited and are more readily available from dedicated biobanks, but they do not always have the resources to support studies beyond local memberships or geographical area.

To support access, BRAIN UK has established a process that allows researchers to request biobank samples (which are not part of the NHS archive) for BRAIN UK supported studies. Access to these samples is via direct application to BTNW and samples are supplied under the ethical approvals of the biobank but the application process has been simplified for BRAIN UK researchers, and the annual reporting process has been combined so that only one report needs to be submitted annually.

Further information about how BRAIN UK and BTNW are working together can be found in section 5.6 of the BRAIN UK protocol here.

Please note that the below organisations and initiatives are not affiliated with BRAIN UK. Please see below for information:

Brain Tumour Research Novel Therapeutics Accelerator (BTR-NTA)

For tumour based studies, once your project has finished, you may want to consider the Brain Tumour Research Novel Therapeutics Accelerator (BTR-NTA) programme. Funded by our funder, Brain Tumour Research, the BTR-NTA is an accelerator programme that provides independent and holistic guidance to help researchers position their therapeutic or technology along a realistic pathway to clinical trials. The BTR-NTA welcomes applications from academic and industry researchers developing any type of therapeutic (including delivery technologies) for patients with a brain tumour.

Children’s Brain Tumour Network (CBTN)

Dedicated to driving innovative discovery, pioneering new treatments and accelerating open science to improve health for all children and young adults diagnosed with a brain tumour. By accelerating the pace of translational research and the discovery of new treatments, they are a global community with the shared goal to save children and young adults from brain tumours. Data and biospecimen samples, cell lines, and models are available for request, representing more than 30 childhood brain tumour subtypes, including some of the rarest childhood tumour classifications. CBTN is committed to sharing these data and specimens broadly at no cost to researchers. More than 100 tumour cell lines are available for use in pre-clinical testing.