Above left: Dr Kirstin Goldring, Tissue Bank Manager
Above right: Laura McKay, Tissue Bank Secretary

The UK Parkinson's Disease Society Tissue Bank is wholly funded by the Parkinson's Disease Society of the UK (Registered Charity 258197). The Tissue Bank does not charge any of the researchers (irrespective of where they work) for the tissue that they have received. Tissue is donated to the Tissue Bank as a gift, with the Parkinson's Disease Society having ultimate custodianship of all material that it has procured.

We operate a prospective donor scheme. This means that people who wish to donate their brain and spinal cord to the Tissue Bank upon their death register their intent with us. For more information on this process, see below, or visit the "Information for Donors" section of the website.

In order to raise the profile of the Tissue Bank, and to recruit more prospective donors, members of the Tissue Bank team (either Dr Kirstin Golding, manager, or Dr David Dexter, scientific director) give presentations at branches of the Parkinson's Disease Society (PDS) and Young Alert Parkinson's Partners & Relatives (YAPP&Rs), and to groups of PD support workers and carers. We also maintain links with PD consultants and nurses, so they can provide our details to any of their patients who may be interested in signing up. Additionally, our website is intended in part to serve as a source of information to anyone considering donating tissue to further Parkinson's research.

In order to register with the Tissue Bank, prospective donors must fill out a consent form and a medical questionnaire. We also require a completed next-of-kin consent form. These forms are available upon request from the Tissue Bank office.

We receive requests for information over the telephone, by e-mail or by post. (If a request is made in writing, we prefer that our information request form is used, as this ensures that we have all the details we need.) Also, when one of our team gives a presentation, or takes a poster to a conference, they usually take some forms with them. When we receive a request, we send out an information pack including the forms, a pamphlet about the Tissue Bank and, if available, copies of our newsletter, the Brain Bank Bulletin.

(Please note that if, after requesting information, a prospective donor decides that they would rather not sign up after all, then they needn't do anything further. They will not be registered with the Tissue Bank until and unless we received the necessary completed and signed forms.)

When the completed forms are received, we enter the information onto our system and assign a unique donor number. We then write back, enclosing a donor card and photocopies of the forms. The card carries the donor number and our 24-hour emergency bleep number (07659 10 45 37). The original forms are stored in a fireproof safe.

If, at any time, a registered donor wishes to withdraw from our database, all they have to do is let us know.

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