Brain/Tissue Donation

We invite anyone to make arrangements now to donate brain and other tissue samples after death.

Tissue samples are necessary to study physical, biochemical, and genetic changes in organs affected neurodegeneration. It is also important to examine the same features in the brains of individuals without history of brain disorders. All Canadians interested in scientific discoveries related to brain disorders are invited to participate in the HD Biobank.

Brain/Tissue Donation Overview

Please discuss your biobanking wishes with your next-of-kin and healthcare providers. To be useful for research, the donation needs to occur as soon as possible after death (ideally within 12 hours). Arrangements will be made in the days/weeks leading up to death with additional consent forms signed by your next-of-kin. We will prepare everything in advance to ensure the process goes smoothly without delay to funeral plans and with little burden on your loved ones.

Please note, tissue donation wishes written in a legal will can not be accepted for our program.

Anyone with or without HD can donate brain and other tissues after death. It is never too early to consent to post-mortem tissue donation, but it can be too late. Please review and sign the “HD Tissue Banking Consent” form.

Brain/Tissue Donation Consent Form

The HD Biobank acknowledges with gratitude and respect that we operate on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.