Brain Donations

[dm0329]

Upon my death, I'm curious about donating my brain to science (medical research for multiple sclerosis). Is anyone aware of what is needed to make this a reality?

Thanks, in advance, for your input!

[steveace]

Donate to Tissue Banks

https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Re...o-Tissue-Banks

[jessiesmom]

Body Donations

Given that you are located in Pennsylvania you need to contact the Humanity Gift Registry. Their contact information can easily be found online. They are a nonprofit organization of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that coordinates body donations with the in-state medical schools. It is a great thing to do. Good luck.

IRENE

[Jules A]

I haven't decided where I'm headed but here are what I'm considering and articles. Apparentlythere is a shortage of our brains:

https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.c...spires-action/

http://www.healthcentral.com/multipl....OZXmKwSl.dpuf


brainbank.ucla.edu

"The Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Resource Center at the UCLA-affiliated Veterans Administration Hospital in Los Angeles has been collecting tissue for neurological and psychiatric research for over 50 years. It regularly “provides researchers with the highest quality and quantity of pre- and post-mortem brains, spinal cords, cerebrospinal fluid, serum, blood cells, and urine to use in their investigations of neurological and psychiatric diseases.”

www.mscenter.org/research/tissue-bank

"The Rocky Mountain MS Center Tissue Bank in Colorado has gathered tissue specifically for MS research since 1976. Scientific studies conducted with samples from the Rocky Mountain Center “have led to several key discoveries and over 150 publications.” The Center is also interested in receiving donations of “healthy” brains from persons not living with MS."


https://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/dep...urorepository/

"The University of Illinois NeuroRepository (UINR) is a one-of-a-kind human brain tissue bank and research database that fuels innovative research and cures for brain disorders. The UINR is unique because it takes a ‘big data’ approach to link clinical, radiological, physiological, histological, and molecular/genomic data to thousands of human tissue samples. These sample provide unsurpassed value to the research community and have already led to important new discoveries of biomarkers and drug targets for our patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders."

And Harvard:

https://hbtrc.mclean.harvard.edu/donate/

Scientists from the nation's top academic and medical centers request tissue from HBTRC for their research. Since the majority of these studies can be carried out on a very small amount of tissue, each donated brain provides a large number of samples for many researchers. However, in order to conduct valid experiments, it is necessary to supply researchers with a variety of brain specimens.

[palmtree]

What a great question! It would be a good feeling to know my suffering might help improve the life of someone else in the future.

[MyGirlsMom]

DM0329, we recently updated our estate planning documents and my attorney noted that my brain can be donated to a reputable MS research facility upon my death. Most likely the Rocky Mountain MS Center....I try not to think about this too much though, but like having my ducks in a row, as they say.