Thursday, June 14, 2012

Freezer Malfunction at Harvard Tissue Bank a Setback for Autism and Other Brain Research

A freezer and alarm failure, causing severe damage to one-third of the frozen brain tissue specimens stored at one Harvard Brain Bank center at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, a collection owned by Autism Speaks, is a real setback to autism research and a wake-up call to other brain banks. The study of donated brains drives some of the most important research into autism, Alzheimer's, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological and psychiatric conditions. We have written before about the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE), a brain bank affiliated with the Boston University Medical Center and the Sports Legacy Institute at the Bedford Veterans Administration Medical Center in Bedford, Massachusetts. Several groups are investigating the Harvard incident. More in the excellent boston.com story.

[Image: Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center]

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