The Neuroscience Institute Brain Bank is a non-profit, high-tech storage facility of post-mortem brain tissue, bloods and cerebrospinal fluid (the clear colourless fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord). The study of the brain after someone’s death is still the only accurate way to understand what is happening during brain disease. For many other diseases (cancer for example), tissues removed during surgery can be studied but it is not possible for most brain diseases. Whilst other brain banks exist in other parts of the world, their work primarily focuses on diseases that are common to their environments. Research on brain diseases using brain tissues from people of South Africa is needed to possibly find new therapies and help improve the quality of life of people that suffers from brain diseases in our unique setting.

Brains of healthy donors are just as important for research because scientists can only investigate what is going wrong in the diseased brain by comparing them with the brain from healthy persons. The Neuroscience Institute Brain Bank is the first brain bank in South Africa. The ultimate goal of the Neuroscience Institute Brain Bank is to improve healthcare of people with diseased brains especially for people in South Africa, by enabling research to advance diagnosis and medical treatment of such diseases.