Autism Tissue Program (tool)

RRID:SCR_000651

Autism research program that makes available post-mortem brain tissue to qualified scientists all over the world. Working directly with tissue banks, organ procurement agencies, medical examiners and the general public, this is the largest program dedicated to increasing and enhancing the availability of post-mortem brain tissue for basic research in autism. To date, the ATP has collected and stored more than 170 brains in their repositories at Harvard (US) and Oxford (UK). These brains are processed by formalin fixation and/or snap frozen to properly provide high quality tissue of all brain regions, in support of biological research in autism. The ATP is unique in that they diligently pursue all available clinical data (pre and post mortem) on tissue donors in order to create the most biologically relevant brain repository for autism research. These data, together with tissue resources from both banks and associated repositories, are presented to all interested researchers through their extensive web-based data portal (login required). The ATP is not a brain bank, but works directly with the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center in Boston (HBTRC), Massachusetts to serve as its tissue repository. This program augments brain bank functions by: * Creating the most biologically relevant brain tissue repository possible * Fully covering all costs associated with brain extraction and transfer to the repositories at Harvard (US and Canada) and Oxford (UK). * Providing scientific oversight of tissue distributions * Overseeing and managing all tissue grants * Clinically phenotyping and acquiring extensive medical data on all of their donors * Providing continuing family support and communication to all of their donors * Directly supporting researchers to facilitate autism research * Maintaining a robust web based data management and secure on-line global interface system * Developing and supporting ATP established scientific initiatives * Actively providing public outreach and education The ATP is not a clinical organ procurement agency, but rather they facilitate the wishes of donors and families to donate their tissue to autism research. Through the ATP's established international infrastructure, they work with any accredited tissue bank, organ procurement agency, or medical examiner that receives a family's request to donate their loved one's tissue to the program. Once contacted, the ATP will insure that the family's request to donate their loved one's tissue is faithfully met, covering all costs to the family and partnering agency as well as ensuring the tissues' proper and rapid transport to the ATP's repository at the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center (HBTRC) in Boston, Massachusetts.