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The University of Pittsburgh NeuroBioBank (NBB) Brain and Tissue Repository was recently renewed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a five-year, $10M contract. Due to the generosity of donor families, the Pitt NBB is an invaluable resource for investigators using postmortem human brain tissue for research. It is led by director David Lewis, MD (Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Thomas Detre Professor of Academic Psychiatry), and associate program director Jill Glausier, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry). “The success of the Pitt NBB reflects the efforts of an exceptional team of clinicians, scientists and technicians who maintain our rigorous operational standards. We are dedicated to being excellent stewards of this essential resource,” said Dr. Glausier, who in 2024 was the inaugural recipient of the NIH NeuroBioBank Award of Excellence. 

The Pitt NBB supports studies of all brain disorders but is uniquely equipped to provide postmortem brain specimens to scientists investigating psychiatric disorders. Expert psychologists and psychiatrists conduct extensive assessments of the life histories of deceased individuals from whom brain donations are received. This diagnostic process incorporates information obtained from structured clinical interviews conducted with donor families, who are guided through each step in the process, and who also receive grief counseling resources as needed. Additional information is obtained from review of medical and related records (obtained with families’ consent and handled with appropriate confidentiality and care) and publicly available data sources, as well as the results of neuropathology and toxicology exams. A comprehensive summary of this information is then presented to an independent team of experienced clinicians who determine the appropriate diagnoses.

“The Pitt NBB builds upon the tremendous efforts of numerous individuals since the beginning of the Pitt Psychiatry Brain Tissue Donation Program over three decades ago. We are profoundly grateful to the families who generously give consent for brain tissue donation from their deceased loved ones and engage with us in the diagnostic process. Their altruistic and thoughtful participation makes postmortem brain research possible,” said Dr. Lewis. 

University of Pittsburgh investigators discussed their positive experiences working with the NBB for their research.

"I feel fortunate to have access to postmortem human brain samples through the Pitt NBB. Using this high-quality resource, we have been investigating cellular and molecular alterations in the brain that occur in individuals with depression,” said Marianne Seney, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry). “We have been able to disentangle potential drivers of the heterogeneity of brain alterations in depression using the rich clinical and demographic information available for each donor.”

"The Pitt NBB has been an invaluable resource throughout my career. Access to well-characterized human postmortem brain tissue has allowed my lab to investigate how circadian rhythms in the brain are disrupted in psychiatric and substance use disorders, enabling research that would not be possible otherwise,” said Kyle Ketchesin, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry).