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The brains collected by the bank are representative of New Zealand’s multicultural society, even though there are no brain conditions that are exclusive to any one culture. Brains don’t differ between cultures and races; we are all one species. “When you look at the human brain, you can’t tell whether it’s male or female, whether it was highly intelligent or less intelligent, whether it came from a European person or an African person. As humans we all have this wonderful organ in common.” Preserving the brains The Brain Bank team had to develop techniques for preserving the brains they received, beyond the traditional methods of formalin fixing, plastination and paraffinisation. “With Dr HenryWaldvogel, the Douglas Trust Research Fellow, we developed a technique of treating each hemisphere of the brain differently. We take one hemisphere off, keeping all the blood vessels intact, then put little tubes into the vessels to fix it with formalin. This type of preservation is what’s needed for chemical studies. The other hemisphere is kept fresh, for gene and biochemical studies. Both hemispheres are dissected down to about 60 blocks and kept in freezers at -80°C. Along with the apparatus used for processing, these freezers are the heart of the Brain Bank.” The Brain Bank holds stored tissue from more than 1,000 brains – 700 whole brains that have been donated and additional tissue acquired from neurosurgical procedures. What began in 1980 as a simple request for Huntington’s diagnosis confirmation has turned into a flourishing human brain research resource and facility that is envied by other countries. Professor Maurice Curtis: Future possibilities for the bank Professor Maurice Curtis is Deputy Director of the Neurological Foundation Human Brain Bank. He is also an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland. As Deputy Director, Maurice has a clear view of the Bank’s importance to the world of neurological research. He’s particularly concerned with future-proofing the tissue that’s collected. “One of the things we’ve tried to do is collect and store tissue in a way that will be useful for future studies, and I’m talking here of research technologies and ways of working that haven’t even been invented yet. What we store today must be versatile, so that it can be used as the need arises. This approach has worked well for us so far. We’ve become the Brain Bank of choice for a number of important studies, because we have the types of tissue they require and it’s preserved in the best way. We also have rich data about the person’s symptoms.” Neurological Foundation funding negotiated for the next five years has allowed the Brain Bank to employ a development technician whose sole focus is the future viability and integrity of the Brain Bank. “Our development technician is looking at new ways to preserve tissue, and also how to get the most out of tissue that we already have stored. To maintain our leadership position in the world and stay ahead of the curve, we need to be constantly investing in processes and protocols that make sure our tissue is really fit for purpose.” Distinguished Professor Sir Richard Faull and Professor Maurice Curtis Headlines 9