Director appointed to lead brain tissue banking network
5 June 2009
Professor James Ironside has been appointed as the Director to set up a UK Brain Banks Network. The network is a new initiative led by the Medical Research Council to co-ordinate provision of brain tissue and to help tackle the shortage of samples available for research into Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, autism and other conditions that affect the brain.
James Ironside is Professor of Clinical Neuropathology at the University of Edinburgh and is well known for his work on Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (CJD). He will take up the part-time role as Brain Bank Director this week.
Commenting on his new appointment, Professor Ironside said:
"Availability of high quality brain tissue is critical to the success of research into devastating clinical conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, motor neurone disease and schizophrenia. It will be a privilege to lead this MRC initiative to establish a UK wide network of brain banks fit for 21st century science. My job is to build on the fantastic work that is already being done by the individual brain banks. Co-ordination is essential to make best use of the available material, which must be of the highest possible quality, to give researchers access to what they need, when they need it.’’
The combined tissue bank capacity created by the new network will aim to meet the needs of all brain bank users including researchers, potential donors and patients. It is hoped the network will provide a contact point for interaction with the public to provide answers on how donate brain tissue or, for example, to direct people to the right brain bank for their condition and to seek to match offers of donation with research requirements.
An independent resource centre led by Professor Ironside will form the heart of the network. Initially the network will connect MRC-funded brain banks; later the plan is for the network to expand to include essential brain banks that are supported by charity funding.
Professor Ironside is well suited to the role, having set up the Brain and Tissue Bank at the National CJD Surveillance Unit and having been involved in the success of the Sudden Death Brain and Tissue Bank at the University of Edinburgh. The Sudden Death Brain and Tissue Bank piloted access to the healthy brain tissue required for comparisons with tissue affected by central nervous system conditions in research. Because the bank included tissue from people who had died suddenly, it also made brain tissue from people of different ages available.
Tissue donated to brain banks is used in a variety of ways in research. Discoveries made using brain tissue include the now well-described role of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease. Other breakthroughs include the presence of amyloid deposits in Alzheimer’s disease and the role of glutamate in schizophrenia. The new network will aim to increase the availability of healthy and diseased brain tissue for research. The initiative has been endorsed by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.
MRC Chief Executive Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said:
‘‘As more of us live longer, and more people are experiencing dementia and other neurological conditions, research using brain tissue is vital to help understand how to tackle this burden. The new network will help to make the most effective use of the brain tissue available for research. Professor Ironside’s past experience in brain banking will help to ensure the network’s success.’’
Member banks will be asked to help define and sign-up to common ‘gold standards’ for many aspects of brain banking, including donation, access to and availability of tissue, and protocols and procedures for storage and use.
About Professor James Ironside
James Ironside is Professor of Clinical Neuropathology in the University of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Consultant Neuropathologist in the Lothian Health University Hospital and Tayside Health University Hospital, Scotland. Professor Ironside will continue his research at the University of Edinburgh.
Since 1990 James has been the Head of the Neuropathology Laboratories in the National CJD Surveillance Unit, and was Director of the Unit from 2002-2004.
James was the Deputy Chairman of Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, the advisory body to the UK Government on prion diseases, from 2002-2005 and is currently a member of the ACDP TSE Working Group andthe CJD Incidents Panel. He was a founder Member of the Human Tissue Authority and member of the Expert Committee on Biologicals and Vaccines for the Commission on Human Medicines from 2005-2009.
He is a member of the WHO Working Group on Reference Materials for TSE Diagnosis, and has acted as an advisor on CJD to the NICE, the UK Department of Health, WHO, European Union and numerous other international bodies.
James’s main focus of research is in the pathology of human prion diseases, and on the neuropathology of brain tumours. Professor Ironside is currently President of the British Neuropathological Society.
BBC Online journalists visited a brain bank, follow this link to read their report Looking inside the brain
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