The University of Miami/National Parkinson's Foundation Brain Endowment Bank, directed by Deborah Mash, Ph.D., the Jeanne C. Levey Professor of Neurology and Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, is the recipient of a three-year award from the NIH to partner with researchers across the country for the Genotype-Tissue Expression project (GTEx).

A two-year, $25 million pilot project supported by the NIH Common Fund, GTEx is designed to generate data for the systematic study of how gene expression is regulated in different organs in the human body, a key step to explaining the underlying biology of many organ-specific diseases, such as heart disease or mental illness. The initial phase will test the feasibility of collecting high-quality ribnucleic acid (RNA) from 30 to 50 tissue sites in the body, including the brain, heart, lung and muscle.

The UM Brain Endowment Bank will serve as the project's brain and spinal cord biorepository. Mash and her team received $362,000 to isolate cells from regions of the brain that will be sent to the GTEx laboratory, data analysis and coordinating center. The remaining brain and spinal cord tissue will be banked and made available for future NIH-sponsored studies of the central nervous system.

"We will store brains and provide specimens handled with precision and uniformity for genotyping and gene expression analyses," Mash said. "The Miller School is fortunate to participate in such a high impact, trans-NIH collaboration."

Samples will come from approximately 160 deceased donors identified through autopsy or organ and tissue transplant programs. For comparison, a small subset of normal tissue also will be collected from living surgery patients.

"GTEx will begin to provide researchers with a comprehensive view of genetic variation and a more precise understanding of how it affects genes critical to the normal function of tissues and organs," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "This resource will add a new dimension to our understanding of human biology and the mechanisms that lead to disease."

For more information about the GTEx project, visit http://commonfund.nih.gov/GTEx/.