Brain Tissue Resource Center for Alcohol Research

University Of Sydney, Sydney

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Project Summary The effects of chronic and heavy alcohol use on individuals and communities are of major public health and socio-economic concern. Research aimed at reducing alcohol intake and organ damage, must be underpinned by a sound knowledge of the pathobiology of alcohol use at a cellular and molecular level. A key resource for such research is access to high quality, extensively characterized tissue from individuals with a history chronic alcohol use and matched controls. The NSW Brain Tissue Resource Center (BTRC) is a brain bank that was established to facilitate research into alcohol use and specifically alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD). The BTRC, based at The University of Sydney, provides human post-mortem brain tissue, demographic data and clinical information, to researchers worldwide. Tissues are collected from individuals with alcohol use disorders and controls through a prospective donor program or retrospectively following forensic autopsy. Case selection is based on a range of specific inclusion and exclusion criteria to maintain cohorts that are easily matched and relatively uncomplicated by co-morbidities. Tissues are prepared so that fresh frozen, formalin-fixed and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples are available to researchers. Preparation and storage of tissues has been developed, and continually modified, to produce high quality specimens for implementation across the widest range of research techniques. All cases undergo a thorough neuropathologic examination by a specialist pathologist and are assigned DSMIV and DSM 5 diagnoses following review of medical records and medical, family history and lifestyle information provided by the donor and/or their family. Cohorts of people with a history of alcohol use and controls with and without complicating factors (e.g. comorbid cigarette smoking, liver disease) are then established to allow researchers to address specific questions. Access to tissue is open to any researcher with institutional ethics approval, following approval by an NIAAA-convened Scientific Advisory Board to ensure appropriate and efficient use of the resource. The BTRC holds institutional ethics approval to collect, hold and distribute tissues and associated data. Its operations are overseen by a Director, Associate Professor Greg Sutherland, and Manager, Ms Julia Stevens, both of whom have extensive experience in biobanking and alcohol research and have, over their careers, contributed directly to 22 alcohol-related research articles. Since 2000, the BTRC has facilitated 277 publications on various aspects of alcohol use, with another 400+ publications on various neurological and psychiatric disorders.