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The Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD BTB

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The NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders is in contract to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. We are located at the University of Maryland School of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics in Baltimore, Maryland.

The mission of the NICHD BTB is to advance the research of developmental disorders. The objective of this human tissue repository is to systematically collect, store, and distribute brain and other tissues for research dedicated to the improved understanding, care and treatment of individuals with developmental disorders.

Our Family web site is a separate web site dedicated to our tissue donors and their families. A registry of donors has also been established.

The recipient of tissue and the NICHD BTB are required to sign a Material Transfer Agreement before any tissues are transferred. All requests for tissue are to be submitted on-line.

The NICHD BTB has extensive experience in arranging for the rapid retrieval of tissue upon the death of individuals while at home, in hospitals or hospice care. The Bank is able to assist researchers who are working with patients who intend to donate tissues at the time of their death.

Meetings and Outreach

The Bank is very active in maintaining an ever growing and vital dialog with medical researchers, health care professionals, support groups, families and individuals. Scientific meetings and meetings of support groups are especially important to us. Learn more! 

DID YOU KNOW?

Over 800 medical researchers have received tissue from the NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank.

Dateline BTB

October 2011- The important work performed by the NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank was highlighted in a recent article by Alison Abbot in Nature, "Brain Child." The article focused on the need of donated brains from healthy children following accidental deaths for the study of autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and many other disorders. Although the NICHD BTB has numerous brains from children, sometime critical areas of the brain needed for research have been depleted due to high demand by researchers. The need for additional pediatric brains was echoed by several other researchers who were interviewed. Most of these researchers are major recipients of tissue from the NICHD BTB. It is hoped that a joint effort may enhance tissue donation so that the children’s legacy may be a world free of dreaded diseases such as autism, schizophrenia, adrenoleukodystrophy, tuberous sclerosis and many others that afflict children and young adults.

August 2011 - Final protocols for the initiation of the Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) Study in Florida were approved and implemented. To date several families have donated tissue during their time of grief to aid in the understanding of the tragic events that rob the family of the infants they loved.

See more - Dateline BTB - Archive  

(NICHD contract #HHSN275200900011C, Ref. No. NO1-HD-9-0011)