South West Dementia Brain Bank (SWDBB)

SWDBB Menu

Mission Statement

"To support the Dementia Research Group into the causes or any other aspects of dementia provided this has the potential to be of value to sufferers and their families."

Management of the SWDBB Resource

The South West Dementia Brain Bank (SWDBB) laboratory and immediately adjacent John James Laboratories are part of the facilities of the Dementia Research Group at Frenchay Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust.  The SWDBB is funded by grants from a number of sources including the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Alzheimer’s Research Trust (ART), BRACE as well as North Bristol NHS Trust Research and Innovation Department and DeNDRoN.

The SWDBB is under the directorship of Professor Seth Love and managed by Dr Patrick Kehoe. The SWDBB is licensed to operate as research tissue bank by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) and operates under ethical approval from North Somerset and South Bristol Research Ethics Committee. The day to day running and co-ordination of the SWDBB and associated donations is overseen by a Local Management Group comprising the SWDBB Director and Manager, senior researchers of the Dementia Research Group and the SWDBB Co-ordinator. This Committee reports to the SWDBB Research Governance Committee, which is chaired by an independent non-University of Bristol member, includes lay people, members of the Bristol and Bath Dementia Research Network, a member of the University of Bristol Department of Ethics, the chairperson of the University of Bristol Human Tissue Working Group as well as Research Governance Managers from both the University of Bristol and our partnering North Bristol NHS Trust.

The Research Governance Committee monitors the activities of the SWDBB, ensuring that all research involving SWDBB materials is conducted under the Department of Health's Research Governance Framework and in keeping with the Human Tissue Act of 2004 and that there is efficient and appropriate use of materials for Alzheimer's disease and other dementia-related research.

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Composition of the SWDBB Resource

Historically, the bank opened to donations in the mid 1980s. The resource was originally set up as a means to collect whole brains from dementia sufferers and non-demented elderly donors to provide material for multi-disciplinary research into Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementing conditions. 

At present, the Brain Bank holds brain tissue from nearly 800 donors. The tissue was donated in strict accordance with ethically approved procedures. In addition, each donation has been examined by a neuropathologist and given a final diagnosis according to international guidelines. 

DNA is available from approximately 70% of the donations. The availability of DNA as well as formalin-fixed and frozen tissue from these donations provides us with unique opportunities to conduct valuable multi-disciplinary work linking histological and molecular biological data to uncover the pathological processes responsible for AD and other dementias. Our systematic collection of a wide range of such data, supported by an accurate, detailed post-mortem diagnosis, makes the SWDBB resource one of the most valuable of its kind worldwide. Furthermore, the clinical information that we collect for each donation allows us to work together with colleagues and collaborators with research interests in the clinical environment, to try to refine the methods used to diagnose dementia.

At present, the SWDBB materials are currently undergoing major work to characterise in detail some of the common pathological alterations of Alzheimer's disease. Once this has been completed, the data are likely to lead to important insights that will feed in to the Dementia Research Group's programme of molecular epidemiological studies of susceptibility and disease-modifying biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

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Collaboration Information

The Dementia Research Group has a strong tradition of collaboration and continues to welcome expansion of these links.

SWDBB material is available to any researchers, local, national or international, wishing to undertake dementia-related research. However, provision of the material is dependent on receipt of a formal application and its approval, which may require review of the application by the SWDBB Research Governance Committee. Each application must be accompanied by a research protocol and release of tissue will be subject to a material transfer agreement. The application must indicate the justification for the requested use of SWDBB materials and the benefits of the proposed work to AD or other dementia-related research.

All applications submitted to the Research Governance Committee are subjected to peer review and decisions are guided by the review.  Approval is also subject to compliance with any local Research Governance regulations that apply in the recipient's host institution. Failure of requesters to meet their local Research Governance requirements precludes access to SWDBB materials.

For further enquiries or to request an application form for SWDBB materials please contact Miss Laura Palmer (South West Dementia Brain Bank Co-ordinator).

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Information for Prospective Donors

For informal queries about making a donation or to request further information on what is involved, please contact Miss Laura Palmer (South West Dementia Brain Bank Co-ordinator) within office hours Monday-Friday.

Alternatively if you would like to read more information about the importance and purposes of the Brain Bank (click here), see how Brain Bank donation contributes to dementia research (click here) or if you would like to know about the process of events from registering with us through to what happens the brain tissue following donation you can read more here.

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