# Brain Bank Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · 2022 · $665,048

## Abstract

The overarching goals of the Brain Banking Core (BBC) are to conduct and foster research on RHI and TBI
and to determine associations with AD, ADRD, CTE, and other neurodegenerative pathology as well as clinical
outcomes. The BBC will include 8 brain bank cohorts, 6 from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM)
and the VA Boston Healthcare System: the BU Alzheimer Disease Center (BUADC), Framingham Heart
Study (FHS), VA Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), VA amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Chronic
Effects of Neurotrauma (CENC) and VA-BU-CLF (UNITE) and 2 from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai (ISMMS) to systematically evaluate the precise neuropathology of RHI and TBI-related
neurodegeneration. These combined brain banks contain over 2500 cases, and include the largest
neuropathologically confirmed autopsy cohort of CTE subjects (n= 361) in the world. In addition, the LETBI,
CENC, ALS, and UNITE brain banks hold at least 50 cases of remote, moderately-severe TBI with a chronic
cavitary lesion (cTBI). The specific aims of the BBC consist of fundamental Core functions, namely to perform
state-of-the-art diagnostic neuropathology, optimally store and distribute CNS tissue and other biospecimens,
and provide neuropathological data for Projects 1-3 and to the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury
Research (FITBIR) for the general scientific community. All neuropathological protocols will be aligned with
those proposed by the NINDS Neuropathological CTE Consensus Conference for biospecimen collection,
blocking, staining and storage, which the PI led and helped establish. In addition, a digital library of the
pathology slides will be generated for each participant and made publicly available. Finally, the BBC will work
to develop novel methods for the assessment of RHI and cTBI-related injury to include axonal and white matter
degeneration, gliosis, and inflammation. The specific aims also build upon the significant innovations of the PI
and investigators with regard to RHI, cTBI, and CTE and focus on determining the pathological and clinical
associations following brain impacts and injury. To accomplish these aims, the BBC will work in close
collaboration with the Administration and Data Cores and Projects 1-3, as well as the associated ISMMS
Alzheimer's Disease and Research Center Brain Bank and the BUADC. Overall, the BBC will provide a
harmonized neuropathological workup and assessment in order to facilitate the storage and distribution of
biospecimens, comprehensive diagnoses, digital library creation, and the development of novel quantitative
neuropathological measures in order to best capture the chronic sequalae of RHI and TBI. Specimens and
data collected by the BBC will be linked to RHI and TBI history determined in Project 1, harmonized clinical
outcomes assessed in Project 2, and additional pathological and inflammatory measures determined in Project
3. The harmonized data will be used extensively across Projects 1-...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10460264
- **Project number:** 5U54NS115266-04
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** Ann C. McKee
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $665,048
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-30 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10460264

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10460264, Brain Bank Core (5U54NS115266-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10460264. Licensed CC0.

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