Make a Request

As a non-renewable resource, the Human Brain Collection Core requires oversight and evaluation to ensure that specimens are distributed equitably and fairly to investigators. Requests for access to samples from the collection should be emailed to hbccmail@mail.nih.gov.

Step 1: Initial request

The principal investigator requesting specimens or data should email hbccmail@mail.nih.gov to submit an initial request.

HBCC will ask the PI to complete a form which includes the following information:

1. Project title and description
   Describe the goal of the project, and the type (e.g., frozen pulverized tissue, tissue blocks, slices, formalin-fixed, DNA, RNA), brain region, number and amount of samples needed
2. Principal investigator and institution
   Please also provide contact information (email, phone number)
3. Funding
   Describe the source(s) of funding of this project

Requests are reviewed for consistency with the NIMH and HBCC mission and goals by an oversight committee. Requestor’s objectives will be evaluated for viability and practicality given the limited materials available.

Committee members will review the requests and reply to the requestor with their recommendations and comments within 14 working days. If you have a conflict of interest with any oversight committee members, alternate members will be appointed.

Current committee members:

• David Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Director, NIAAA
• Andrew Singleton, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, NIAAA
• Maryland Pao, M.D., Clinical Director, NIMH

Step 2: Legal Requirements

NIH investigators whose request has been approved will complete the Human Tissue Distribution Agreement form.

Investigators outside NIH will complete the Material Transfer Agreement (MTA).

These forms will be sent to you once the request is approved.

All legal forms include some of the language below:

Human Tissue Single User Agreement

I understand that the Human Brain Collection Core (HBCC) at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), NIH will disburse postmortem human tissue/samples to me for research purposes only. I understand that these samples will be disbursed for my expressed use only. I acknowledge that I will not distribute any samples, or fractions of samples of this disbursement to other investigators without the expressed permission of the HBCC. I will direct all such requests for sample inquires to the HBCC office.

Acknowledgment Agreement

I agree to provide specific acknowledgment of the HBCC in any publication related to the use of these samples. Specific citation of the contribution of the HBCC, NIMH will be included in both the Methods section and the Acknowledgment section of the manuscript.

Human Tissue Safety and Handling Agreement

I accept full responsibility to ensure that proper, safe handling techniques are employed in my laboratory when working with postmortem human tissue/samples. I further accept responsibility to train staff members in approved and customary safe handling techniques before they work with these tissues. We do not intentionally distribute tissue known to be infectious unless specifically requested by investigators for defined research projects. We cannot guarantee that any postmortem human specimen is free of transmissible infectious agents beyond what can be reasonably ruled out using conventional methods of pathological evaluation. Thus, the recipient investigator bears the responsibility to ensure that all laboratory individuals working with postmortem human tissue use proper and safe techniques. All waste material is a biohazard. Thus, waste must be disposed of according to your institution’s policy for handling biohazard.

Data sharing requirement

In accordance with the NIH genomic data sharing policy , PIs that receive HBCC tissues shall transfer data generated in genomic studies (e.g. sequencing, proteomics) or qualitative data derived from the materials received, to the HBCC within one year of data generation or at the time of publication, whichever comes first, for posting on the NIMH Data Archive website  or other repository that HBCC identifies.

Annual report requirement

PIs that receive HBCC tissues agree to submit an annual report briefly summarizing progress made on the project by June 1 of each year, until publication or closure of the project if no publication is achieved.