NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE - CANCER.GOV

Contact Information


Primary Contact

Stefano Marenco
Acting Director

Location

10 Center Drive
Building 10, 4N218
Bethesda, MD 20814

Overview

The mission of Human Brain Collection Core (HBCC) within the National Institute of Mental Health, Division of Intramural Programs (NIMH IRP) is to conduct and support research on brain and behavior, with the goal of reducing the burden of mental illness. HBCC is a national resource, providing unique opportunities in mental health research.

Established Technologies

The HBCC obtains human brain tissue and blood samples from deceased individuals diagnosed with major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, and their consequences (e.g., suicide), as well as from individuals without a history of neurological or psychiatric disorders (used as controls). The tissues are obtained under protocols approved by the HBCC Oversight Committee and the NIH Department of Bioethics and only with the permission of next-of-kin.

Specific services include:

  • Distribute well-characterized brain specimens to approved investigators
  • Prepare high-quality tissue, RNA, DNA, and other derivative samples for distribution to approved investigators
  • Provide scientific advice on neuroanatomical, molecular, clinical, and technical aspects of projects involving human brain tissue
  • Perform molecular and genetic studies
  • Assist medical examiner’s offices by providing neuropathology reports
  • Disseminate data to the scientific community within and outside NIH using publicly available databases, primarily the NIMH Data Archive (NDA)

Major Instrumentation

The core has an ultracentrifuge (Beckman Optima XPN 100 - IVD with a SW 32 TI rotor), a cryostat (LEICA CM, Model 1950) and a 10X Chromium Controller used for single nucleus extraction and RNA and ATAC library preparations from human brain.  We will soon have an Agilent 5200 Fragment Analyzer for measuring nucleic acid composition and quality. 

User Guidelines

HBCC distributes samples to investigators approved by an NIMH Oversight Committee inside and outside NIH. As a non-renewable resource, the human brain collection requires oversight and evaluation to ensure that specimens are distributed equitably and fairly to investigators. For all inquiries, please review the HBCC procedures to Make A Request, or email Stefano Marenco directly.

Publications

  • Feng N, Mandal A, Jambhale A, Narnur P, Chen G, Akula N, Kramer R, Kolachana B, Xu Q, McMahon FJ, Lipska BK, Auluck PK, Marenco S. Schizophrenia risk- associated SNPs affect expression of microRNA 137 host gene: a postmortem study. Hum Mol Genet. 2024 Sep 6:ddae130. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddae130. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39239979.
  • Zeng B, Bendl J, Deng C, Lee D, Misir R, Reach SM, Kleopoulos SP, Auluck P, Marenco S, Lewis DA, Haroutunian V, Ahituv N, Fullard JF, Hoffman GE, Roussos P. Genetic regulation of cell type-specific chromatin accessibility shapes brain disease etiology. Science. 2024 May 24;384(6698):eadh4265. doi: 10.1126/science.adh4265. Epub 2024 May 24. PMID: 38781378
  • Shastri GG, Sudre G, Ahn K, Jung B, Kolachana B, Auluck PK, Elnitski L, Marenco S, Shaw P. Cortico-striatal differences in the epigenome in attention- deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. Transl Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 11;14(1):189. doi: 10.1038/s41398-024-02896-x. PMID: 38605038; PMCID: PMC11009227
  • Kim B, Kim D, Schulmann A, Patel Y, Caban-Rivera C, Kim P, Jambhale A, Johnson KR, Feng N, Xu Q, Kang SJ, Mandal A, Kelly M, Akula N, McMahon FJ, Lipska B, Marenco S, Auluck PK. Cellular Diversity in Human Subgenual Anterior Cingulate and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex by Single-Nucleus RNA-Sequencing. J Neurosci. 2023 May 10;43(19):3582-3597. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0830-22.2023. Epub 2023 Apr 10. PMID: 37037607; PMCID: PMC10184745
  • Duncan L, Shen H, Schulmann A, Li T, Kolachana B, Mandal A, Feng N, Auluck P, Marenco S. Polygenic scores for psychiatric disorders in a diverse postmortem brain tissue cohort. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2023 Apr;48(5):764-772. doi: 10.1038/s41386-022-01524-w. Epub 2023 Jan 24. PMID: 36694041; PMCID: PMC10066241

Keywords

HBShuman biological sampleshuman biospecimenhuman blood sampleshuman brain tissuenimh-corebrain tissue banking and distribution