Your Precious Brain

The ACT study has had a brain donation program since the study began in 1994. So far, over 1000 ACT participants have made this precious gift. Brain donation is especially valuable in the ACT Study because of the wealth of information participants have shared about their health, lifestyle, social experiences, family history and cognitive functioning while participating in ACT. Putting all this information together with the advanced technologies we now have for studying brain tissue provides an incredible resource for scientists worldwide to learn more about how to improve brain health in the future.

Each precious gift of brain donation can make a significant impact for the study of Alzheimer’s disease and other causes of dementia, potentially providing information for hundreds of research studies. Brain donation can help researchers learn how the brain is affected by diseases and how we might better treat and prevent them. Discoveries made possible by tissue donation provide hope to families affected by brain disease.

You can learn more about why people donate their brains for Alzheimer's research, the process of brain donation, and how to talk with your family about this decision at this website created by the National Institute on Aging.

You can also learn more about brain donation by visiting Dr. Keene’s UW Biorepository and Integrated Neuropathology (BRaIN) Laboratory website.