The PDS Tissue Bank at Imperial aims to help understand what causes Parkinson's and assist in the development of better drug treatments by providing high quality brain tissue to researchers working in the field of Parkinson's and related neurological disorders. The Tissue Bank also aims to enhance the public's awareness of Parkinson's, promote the work of the Tissue Bank and increase the numbers of volunteers who are willing to sign up to the donor scheme. The Tissue Bank also aims to collect the tissue so that it is suitable for all research needs and that it is collected in the most ethical manner.

Dr Kirstin Goldring attended the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) Festival of Science in Dublin in September 2005. "The BA Festival of Science is one of the UK's biggest science festivals. It attracts 400 of the best scientists and science communicators from home and abroad who reveal the latest developments in research to a general audience" (www.the-ba.net). As a result of the presentation about the importance of brain donation, the Tissue Bank received a great deal of publicity. There was coverage of the need for more brain donations in ‘The Times’ and 'The Guardian' newspapers in September 2005, BBC news on-line and health related websites also covered the story. In addition the Tissue Bank was then approached to do TV interviews on the subject, and Dr David Dexter was interviewed on BBC News 24 and he was also interviewed and the laboratories were filmed for BBC London news. The publicity resulted in an increased number of enquiries to the Tissue Bank, with the number of packs we sent out increasing from 20-30 per month to 40-50 in September, October and November. It also led to an increase in the number of people registering with the Tissue Bank, with over 30 people registering in October, well over the average of 15. We were very pleased with the publicity and increased interest in the work of the tissue which can only help us to provide the valuable tissue which is essential for research in to Parkinson's.

Update on how the tissue is being used for research

The tissue kindly donated to the Tissue Bank is being used for a variety of different research projects in the UK and worldwide. Tissue is currently being supplied to research groups at various Institutions which include: National Institute of Health (NIH) USA, Kuopio University Finland, RWTH University Aachan Germany, Essex Neuroscience Centre UK, Cambridge University UK, West London Neurosciences Centre UK, Kings College London UK, Institute of Neurology London UK. Tissue is also being supplied to a number of research groups here at Imperial College, including a large Programme Grant awarded to Professor Manuel Graeber by the PDS. The tissue is being utilised for the following research areas: differences in gene expression in Parkinson's, metabolic and transcriptional changes in Parkinson's, the pathways involved in Parkinson's and Lewy Body Disease, the role of inflammation in Parkinson's, the pathways underlying causes of dyskinesia in Parkinson's, the role of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's, the involvement of the olfactory (smell) system in Parkinson's, measurement of nuclear strand breaks in different cell types and brain regions in Parkinson's. Some of the research also involves standardisation of the protocols and the diagnosis of Parkinson's and related disorders used in Tissue Banks across Europe.