Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Biorepository

Brain Bank
Tarnjit (Tannu) Singh, M.A.
VA Boston Healthcare System

Gulf War Veterans 25th Anniversary Reunion

April 9, 2016, Boston, MA

What is the
Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Biorepository Brain Bank?

One of the VA Biorepository Brain Banks (VABBB)

based at VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS)
The only national brain bank solely dedicated to
supporting VA and non-VA sponsored research
on Gulf War Illness (GWI)

VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

What is the
Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Biorepository Brain Bank?

The Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Biorepository

(GWVIB) Brain Bank is open to all 1990-1991
Gulf War Veterans regardless of whether they
receive care at VA or whether they were
deployed to the Gulf

VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Why do we need brain tissue ?

Recent research on Gulf War illness and other
health problems in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War:
Effects of toxicant exposures during deployment
Roberta F. White, Lea Steele, James P. O'Callaghan,
Kimberly Sullivan, James H. Binns, Beatrice A. Golomb,
Floyd E. Bloom, James A. Bunker, Fiona Crawford ,
Joel C. Graves, Anthony Hardie, Nancy Klimas, Marguerite Knox,
William J. Meggs,Jack Melling, Martin A. Philbert and
Rachel Grashow

VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Why do we need brain tissue ?

The value of postmortem brain tissue:

Accurate diagnoses of neurodegenerative
diseases can only be obtained through postmortem pathology
Necessary for clinicopathological correlation
Human tissue is required to study human
disease and to test the relevance of results
from animal models
VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Why do we need brain tissue ?

High quality DNA, RNA, and protein

required for accurate and reproducible
results
May aid in the understanding of disease,
the discovery of new diagnostic targets, and
the development of therapeutic treatments

VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Web Site

http://www.research.va.gov/programs/tissue_banking/gwvib/
VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Thank you!

The GWVIB is funded by the

VA Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Service
VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION