Make a Request

Make a Request: As a non-renewable resource, the human brain collection 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. The principal investigator requesting specimens or data will fill out a form sent by email. Requests should contain a project title and a brief project description as well as description of the type of specimen or data requested. Requests are reviewed for consistency with 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 (Dr. David Goldman, Clinical Director, NIAAA, Dr. Andrew Singleton, Principal Investigator, NIAAA, Dr. Thomas Lehner, Scientific Director of Neuropsychiatric Disease Genomics, New York Genome Center Director, and Dr. Maryland Pao, Clinical Director, NIMH) will review the requests and reply to the requestor with their recommendations and comments within 14 working days. If a conflict of interest is present for the oversight committee members, alternate members will be appointed.

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).

Upon request, we will send a principal investigator a form asking for 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
   Provide also contact information (email, phone#)
3. Funding
   Describe the source(s) of funding of this project

And we require investigators to sign the following user agreement before receiving the requested specimens:

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.

1. I AGREE THAT THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE USED IN HUMANS OR FOR ANY DIAGNOSTIC, PROGNOSTIC, OR TREATMENT PURPOSES.

Print Investigator’s Name

______________________

Investigator’s Institute

______________________

Signature

______________________

Date

______________________

Data Sharing Requirement

In accordance with the  NIH genomic data sharing policy (https://osp.od.nih.gov/scientific-sharing/genomic-data-sharing/  ), 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 (NDA: https://nda.nih.gov/edit_collection.html?id=3151 ) 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 1st of each year, until publication or closure of the project if no publication is achieved.

If you cannot find what you are looking for in our bank, please try here:

NIH NeuroBioBank  The NIH-funded NeuroBioBank (NBB) was established in September 2013 as a national resource for investigators utilizing human post-mortem brain tissue and related biospecimens for their research to understand conditions of the nervous system.