National MS Brain Bank Needs You: Help Advance Research on Pathways to MS Cures
September 7, 2023
The
National MS Brain Bank is enrolling people with MS and healthy participants for a brain donation program. The brain bank team tracks your clinical information and imaging scans and later will link them with an in-depth characterization of brain tissue obtained from autopsy. This greatly enhances the informative value of the brain tissue and helps unlock disease processes underlying MS. This brain bank, supported by the National MS Society, will serve as a major resource to the scientific community, advancing research on
pathways to MS cures.
Watch videos of people explaining why they have signed up
Learn more about how this effort is paving the way to cures in Momentum magazine.
DETAILS
Why Do Researchers Need a Brain Bank? Multiple sclerosis is a complex disease with a highly variable course, different disease stages and multiple underlying processes. Because of this complexity and the uniqueness of the human brain, MS is best studied in the people who live with it, rather than in animal models. When people donate their brain tissue to research, it becomes a precious resource.
Established in 2020, the Brain Bank is a collaboration between investigators at Columbia University, the National Institutes of Health, and the Yale School of Medicine. The Brain Bank is made possible with funding from the National MS Society.
What is involved? Individuals living with MS who wish to donate their brain and related tissues after death are invited to
enroll in a long-term study. They will be contacted intermittently so that the researchers can track their course of disease and symptoms, and their treatments. Participants are also invited to share MRI scans or reports.
With the help of a close family member, the brain bank team is contacted when death is near and the research team makes arrangements to obtain the tissues. The remains are returned promptly to the funeral home and family for memorial or religious services, and there is no disfigurement. Learn more about
how brain donation works.
Contact:
email:
msbraindonation@cumc.columbia.edu. Or visit their website at
https://www.msbraindonation.org/.
For immediate assistance with brain donation, please call 201-951-6661.
Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system. Currently there is no cure. Symptoms vary from person to person and may include disabling fatigue, mobility challenges, cognitive changes, and vision issues. An estimated 1 million people live with MS in the United States. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to minimize disability. Significant progress is being made to achieve a world free of MS.
The National MS Society, founded in 1946, is the global leader of a growing movement dedicated to creating a world free of MS. The Society funds cutting-edge research for a cure, drives change through advocacy and provides programs and services to help people affected by MS live their best lives. Connect to learn more and get involved: nationalMSsociety.org, Facebook, X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or 1-800-344-4867.