https://archimed.unige.ch/fr/blog/brainbiobank-en

---

Established at the beginning of the 20th century, it is one of the largest of its kind in Europe, preserving over 10,000 brains exhibiting various pathologies. These brains originate from medical autopsies performed at the Geneva University Hospitals, for which consent was given to retain the tissues for research purposes. Over the decades, it has served as a valuable resource for studying brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, neurosyphilis, frontotemporal dementia, and Huntington’s disease. In addition to formalin-fixed brain samples, this vast collection includes over 200,000 stained tissue sections, more than 100,000 paraffin-embedded tissue blocks, and, importantly, pathological diagnostic reports and clinical records. The size, quality, and historical depth of this collection give it unique value for research. However, its preservation and conversion into a modern brain bank face significant challenges.

The first challenge is the relevance of old tissue samples for modern research. The size and age of the collection (the first sample dates from 1901) allow for research on rare or presumably extinct disorders, the evolution of diseases over time, and the role of the environment in their development, which is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with a more recent or smaller brain bank. While the scientific value of the collection is evident, the ability to conduct modern biomedical research on it is questioned. The use of cutting-edge neurobiological methods such as multiplexed immunofluorescence, tissue clearing, expansion microscopy, in situ hybridization, or deep DNA and RNA sequencing is therefore necessary, which requires their adaptation to old tissues.

The second challenge is making the brain bank’s data available to researchers. This involves digitizing written documents and histological slides and integrating them into a database equipped with a search tool allowing searches across different data types. This effort is now made possible by advances in artificial intelligence (AI).

Overall, the combination of AI-based automated analysis tools and advanced neurobiological techniques helps to increase the research potential of the brain bank. This also holds true for many old tissue archives resulting from clinical activity preserved worldwide. The ArchiMed project, associating the Geneva Brain Bank and the Pathological Tissue Archive of the University of Strasbourg, thus aims to develop the necessary tools for valorizing tissue archives and to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach for research on contemporary and emerging diseases.

To learn more:

1- Kovari et al. 2012, Ann N Y Acad Sci

2- European research infrastructure dedicated to biobanks