Banner Sun Health Research Institute's Brain and Body Donation Program
We are an autopsy-based, research-devoted brain and biospecimen bank.
The Brain and Body Donation Program (BBDP) is an autopsy-based, research-devoted brain bank, biobank and biospecimen bank that derives its human donors from the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease (AZSAND), a longitudinal clinicopathological study of the health and diseases of elderly volunteers living in Maricopa county and metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. We study their function during life and their organs and tissue after death. To date, we have concentrated our studies on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease and cancer. We also share the banked tissue, biomaterials and biospecimens with qualified researchers worldwide.

Fast Facts:
-Founded 1987
-Nonprofit
-1200 subjects autopsied to date
-Only consistent rapid autopsy program in the world
-Tissue has 3 hour PMI with a RNA Integrity Index of <8