Wisconsin Brain Donor Program

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MADISON · Jan 2, 2008

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

The Wisconsin Brain Donor Program (WBDP) is a long-term program that collects brain tissue and other samples after a person dies to help scientists study memory-related diseases like Alzheimer’s. It acts as a brain tissue bank, sharing donated material with approved researchers to advance work on neurodegenerative diseases. The program is ongoing and funded by institutions such as the University of Wisconsin–Madison and NIH-supported networks; tissues and related data are stored long-term to support future research.

Living people can join if they are 18 or older. Eligible participants include current or past ADRC study participants, other approved healthy volunteers, or close family members (like a parent or spouse) of someone in ADRC studies, with some case-by-case rules. Exclusions include certain infections or medical conditions that could make donation unsafe, and the time between death and tissue removal (postmortem interval) is usually limited to about 16 hours for those not in ADRC studies. Consent and appropriate arrangements are needed, and donated tissue and data are stored securely and shared with researchers in a coded (privacy-protected) form. This is not a living treatment trial; it’s a donation registry to support future scientific research.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Is aged 18 years or older
• * Falls into one of the following categories:
• • Current or previous study participants involved in the ADRC Clinical Core, WRAP study, or other select ADRC-affiliated studies, or donors of special circumstance, including healthy controls, if approved on a case-by-case basis by the WBDP PI. Please note, ADRC-affiliated studies are not inclusive of ADRC-affiliated industry-sponsored studies.
• • Is a parent of either an ADRC Clinical Core or WRAP study participant, or is a spouse of a WRAP study participant.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • VA research subjects
• * Subjects with a medical condition/disease that would exclude them from the spectrum of utility/interest to researchers as determined by a WBDP Neuropathologist:
• • 1. Persons with Hepatitis B or C
• • 2. Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
• • 3. Positive CJD diagnosis
• • 4. Persons with HIV/AIDS
• • 5. Persons with brain tumors or blood clots that affect neurologic status, therefore creating a problem between diagnosing AD status and healthy status
• • 6. Cancer that has metastasized to the brain
• • 7. Radiation treatment to the head
• • 8. Other infectious diseases that would be hazardous to staff handling the tissue
• • 9. Prolonged ventilator dependency prior to death as determined by the Neuropathologist
• • Subjects who lack capacity to provide informed consent with no activated Power of Attorney (POA) for Healthcare, activated POA for Research, or legal guardianship (if not near death), or (if at or near death) have no spouse, parent, relative or friend willing/able to complete consent and other donation paperwork.
• • Subjects who otherwise have incomplete history or incomplete donation paperwork before a recovery can begin.
• • Subjects younger than 18 years of age.
• • An expected post-mortem interval (PMI) of greater than 16 hours for non-ADRC or non-WRAP participants. PMI is the time between death and the anticipated time of brain removal at autopsy. Families and recovery agencies are made aware of this time constraint when consenting for the recovery process. If a patient becomes ineligible due to PMI, the family and funeral home will be notified immediately. Diversions from this exclusion can be made by a WBDP PI or Co-PI.
• • Medical conditions that would put researchers at risk.
• • Other contingencies, as determined by the PI, that make enrollment impractical or unsafe.
• • Note: It is anticipated, based upon the younger age of our study cohorts, that significant time may pass between WBDP registration and actual donation. The inclusion/exclusion criteria will be reviewed and applied at time of donation. As a result, donated tissue found to be unsuitable may be removed from the post-mortem tissue and biosamples collection.