The MRC Brain Bank Genomic Database
Research type
Research Database
IRAS ID
212430
Contact name
Patrick Chinnery
Contact email
Research summary
The MRC Brain Bank Genomic Database
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0033
Date of REC Opinion
17 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion
Data collection arrangements
We have performed whole-exome sequencing of DNA from 1461 frozen brains from the UK Medical Research Council Brain Bank. We propose the establishment of a research database using the anonymised genomic sequence data in order to enable researchers to select tissue samples with a specific genetic background.
Demographic data (age of disease onset and death, disease duration and family history of disease), together with the ante mortem clinical diagnosis and post mortem neuropathological diagnosis will also be included in the database.
All data has already been generated and collected, is anonymised, and is currently available for download through the European Bioinformatics Institute (after approval from the data access committee).Research programme
The main target community for this database is researchers in the field of clinical neuroscience. We wish to provide a platform whereby researchers can search the genomic sequence data and determine the location of tissue with, or without specific genetic variants. While this large dataset is already available for download from the EBI in a format that is useful for geneticists, the vast majority of neuroscience researchers may find it extremely difficult to download and analyse due to both the computational constraints, and the technical skills required to interpret the data in its current format. This will significantly limit the utility of the dataset as a mechanism to stratify the selection of brain tissue samples. The aim of this database is that interested researchers will be able to search the database for specific variants, and determine the corresponding phenotype of any case within the brain bank possessing that variant. Secondly, through restricted access, researchers would also be able to obtain the information required to request a sample of this tissue through the MRC Brain Bank under their existing tissue request process.
Research database title
The MRC Brain Bank Genomic Database
Establishment organisation
Cambridge University
Establishment organisation address
The Old Schools
Trinity Lane
Cambridge
CB2 1TN