Type of service: Research Organisations

The Brain Bank for Autism & Related Developmental Research was established in 2009. It is an initiative to develop a similar programme in the UK to the Autism Tissue Program, which has been developed in the US since 1998. The Brain Bank is the first extension outside the US of the Autism Tissue Program and is integrated with it. UK charity Autistica provides the funding for this initiative. The Brain Bank is based at Oxford University, where it forms part of the Thomas Willis Oxford Brain Collection. The programme has a free-phone helpline on 0800 089 0707 which you can call if you prefer to gain information that way. The donation of post-mortem brain tissue for this research programme is of fundamental importance to our understanding of the causes of autism and to help us develop more effective diagnostic measures and interventions. A separate brain bank for autism is necessary because we need to understand how, in autism, the brain develops over time and how the brain functions as a whole. However, our Brain Bank will promote close cooperation across all relevant brain banks in order to take the research forward. Our research focuses on: people within the autism spectrum or their family members; people not affected by autism but who are affected by epilepsy; individuals without autism or epilepsy. Donations from people who do not have autism are very important since this allows comparisons to be made between the brains of affected and non-affected individuals. Some 20-30% of people with autism also have epilepsy, and it is vital to distinguish changes in the brain due to autism from those due to epilepsy. We also need to understand more about the 'typical' development of the brain. So it will be valuable if the donations needed to investigate autism, epilepsy and 'normal' development of the brain are made directly to this brain bank, rather than as part of general post-mortem organ donation.

Aimed at: Adult , Parent/carer of a child

Specialisms: Has autism-specific elements