NATIONAL NEUROLOGIC AIDS BANK

The National Neurologic AIDS Bank (NNAB) is a site of the HIV/CNS Tissue Network. Based in Los Angeles, which has the largest and most diverse AIDS population in the western United States, the NNAB provides researchers with well-characterized neural tissue from HIV-1-infected and seronegative control donors. The NNAB collaborates with the other designated sites, funding agencies, and outside experts to develop local and national tissue networks. There are plans to create a Network Steering Committee, a panel of outside advisors, and a protocol to recruit and characterize human donors. The NNAB collects pre- and post-mortem clinical data and neural tissues using a standardized autopsy protocol, and the bank stores, codes, catalogues, and distributes this tissue. An electronic database and an Internet-based application process that researchers can use to access the Network's resources are being designed.

Subjects are followed at multiple sites, with home visits if needed to obtain neuropsychologic testing within 6 months prior to death. Attention is focused on forming a collaborative relationship with patients and their families in order to ensure that pre- and post-mortem tissue is obtained. Unique efforts to recruit women and minorities are being made. Autopsies are performed with attention
to reducing tissue autolysis time. The tissue is catalogued in an electronic database, stored in dedicated facilities, and distributed according to HIV/CNS Tissue Network guidelines.

The team assembled for the NNAB consists of clinical researchers in HIV-1 neuroscience, neuropathology, medicine, toxicology, and drug addiction. The members of this team have worked together for over 10 years and have a proven record of enrolling, retaining, and collecting specimens from large numbers of subjects in HIV-1-neurological studies. They have previously developed human-tissue banks, computerized databases, and multicenter research programs. The NNAB will utilize the experience of two successful local human tissue banks, the National Neurologic Research Specimen Bank and the AIDS Malignancy Bank. These banks contain thousands of pre- and post-mortem specimens from longitudinally studied donors. These specimens are currently available for research.