Using the MS Society Tissue Bank in research
The MS Society Tissue Bank is an internationally recognised collection of brain and spinal cord samples donated by people with MS in the UK.
What is the MS Society Tissue Bank?
We've supported the Tissue Bank since it was established in 1998. Since then, it's developed a UK-wide donor scheme. And collected a large number of well-characterised MS cases and control tissue. Over 20,000 tissue samples have been used by researchers in over 400 projects worldwide.
Find out more on the Tissue Bank website
How can I use the Tissue Bank in my research?
You can request samples of central nervous system tissue from MS patients, including those with primary and secondary progressive MS, as well as control cases. All cases come with the clinical summary and full neuropathology report. You can also request a set of digital images for each case.
Snap-frozen, fixed-frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples are available. And you can request tissue sections, slices or blocks depending on what your project requires. The Tissue Bank staff can advise on selection of cases best suited to your project.
You’ll submit a Tissue Request to the Tissue Bank outlining your project and what the tissue samples will be used for. You can specify what type of tissue, whether it should contain lesions and what type, and how the tissue has been processed. You’ll also need to write a lay summary for your project. Tissue Requests are reviewed by the Tissue Bank Peer Review Panel, which includes MS researchers, neuropathologists and people affected by MS.
Read more about research that's used samples from the Tissue Bank
