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Headlines 9 Professor Maurice Curtis, co-director of the NF HBB, tells us more about the significance of the Sports Human Brain Bank. “As a student 20 years ago, I was taught that one of the risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases was head injury. How big or repetitive that head blow had to be was never defined. Since then, a new field of science has emerged as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), one of the most recently- identified distinct neurodegenerative diseases, found to be a direct result of repetitive head knocks in sport. In 2019 Sir Richard Faull and I (co-directors of the NF HBB), were invited to be part of the Concussion Legacy Foundation Global Brain Bank Initiative focused on internationally agreed protocols for receiving and preparing brains from those with repetitive sporting injuries. Not just one-off concussions but those who received hundreds or thousands of knocks to the head across a season or many years of their life. In joining this initiative, we launched the Sports Brain Bank Initiative as an extension of the NF HBB in 2020. We have since joined an international group of neuropathologists and neuroscientists unravelling the changes in the brain caused by trauma and studying what the key changes are that are distinct to repetitive head knocks. More than 40 people with significant sporting histories (mainly rugby and rugby league, but other sports too) have offered us their brain when they die. The overarching sentiment is that if they can help someone else and provide better treatment options for those with similar conditions to theirs, then they will. To date we have received three confirmed cases of CTE into the brain bank. Each of these case diagnoses has been peer-reviewed and confirmed by three neuropathologists. The interaction with other sports brain banks really allows us to work with brain banks in Sydney, Boston, Amsterdam and other cities that are leading lights in the CTE field. Because this is a relatively new science there is a lot to study. In particular we want to know what CTE has in common with diseases like Alzheimer’s, some frontotemporal dementia, and what features are distinct. Our goal is to make sure that the best research can be done on CTE so that those who’ve had repetitive head injuries have the best opportunity of living life to the full. Given that there is one main protein – tau – that causes CTE, Alzheimer’s, some frontotemporal dementia and other rarer conditions, what becomes a therapy for one may quickly become a therapy for another condition. We also want to gather the clinical history of those who have CTE so we can compare the neuropathological findings with clinical findings. The Brain Bank team are keen to hear from those interested in brain donation either with or without a significant sporting history and with or without a neurological disease. The gift of brain donation is truly one of the most generous gifts to science. We are very appreciative to those families who choose to go ahead with donating the brain of a loved one.” The Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank is based in the Centre for Brain Research at the University of Auckland. If you’d like to know more about the process of donating your brain please visit https://www.brainbank.ac.nz/the-process/