Biobank - Center for Advanced Parkinson Research

The Harvard Biomarkers Study Biobank is one of the world’s largest biobanks for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and related neurodegenerative diseases. More than 200,000 biosamples from 3,000 deeply characterized patients allow the discovery of new targets for drugs, new genes, and new diagnostics. Unique iPSC capability enables drug screening using patient’s cells with linked biomarkers, genomes, and clinical phenotypes.

Harnessing the power of collaboration

The biobank speeds up research for biomarkers from years to months at a fraction of cost. We believe that when we work together we can make progress, faster. Therefore, we now are making this treasure trove available to qualified scientists around the world.

Are you curious to learn more? Check out our recent publications here!

Are you ready to make discoveries?

Apply for biosamples in three easy steps.

The Harvard Biomarkers Study Biobank is temporarily closed for collaborations until early 2024.

Please email Dr. Beatrice Weykopf at beatrice.weykopf@yale.edu with any questions.

Biospecimens

Details

Biospecimen processing protocol

Blood samples from biomarker participants are transported at room temperature to the Biomarkers Core laboratory for processing within 4 hours of blood draw. They are centrifuged and aliquotted into plasma, packed red blood cells, buffy coat and serum and stored at -80°. Samples collected in PAXgene tubes are transferred at room temperature to the laboratory and placed at -4° within 4 hours of the blood draw. RNA is processed within 3-5 days by the biospecimen manager using the PreAnalytix manual PAXgene blood RNA procedure. Cell lines are established and stored. CSF is available from a subset of subjects.

Clinical data

Clinical data collected for every enrolled subject comes from physician exams measuring disease activity and severity, study staff interviews, and self-administered questionnaires and includes medical history, medication use, risk factor data, family history of neurologic diseases, co-morbidities, smoking history and caffeine intake. Also included are standardized tests measuring quality of life, depression, physical and cognitive function.

Application

If you would like access to the program’s resources, please use this form to provide information about your project and request.
Name*
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University or Organization*
Email*
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Type of Collaborator*
- Academic
- Non-Academic
Name of Project*
Collaborator Agreement*
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Please sign, date, and upload.
Max. file size: 50 MB.
Letter of Intent*
Prepare your Letter of Intent using the following guidelines: Letter of Intent Instructions
Please upload your letter of intent below.
Max. file size: 50 MB.
IRB Protocol*
Please upload a copy of your IRB Protocol allowing secondary analysis of biospecimens and data.
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How to cite

HBS Collaborators are required to follow the four aspects of our publication policy:

1. Collaborators are required to keep HBS investigators updated on the progress of the study by providing a draft manuscript 3 weeks prior to submission to capr@bwh.harvard.edu. Depending on the level of involvement in a specific project, HBS investigators may participate as co-authors.

2. Include the following HBS Study Investigators Acknowledgement Section in the manuscript:

“The Harvard Biomarkers Study (“HBS”); https://www.bwhparkinsoncenter.org) is a collaborative initiative of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, co-directed by Dr. Clemens Scherzer and Dr. Bradley T. Hyman. The HBS Investigators have not participated in reviewing the current manuscript. The HBS Study Investigators are:

Harvard Biomarkers Study. Co-Directors: Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Clemens R. Scherzer, Massachusetts General Hospital: Bradley T. Hyman; Investigators and Study Coordinators: Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Yuliya Kuras, Karbi Choudhury, Michael T. Hayes, Aleksandar Videnovic, Nutan Sharma, Vikram Khurana, Claudio Melo De Gusmao, Reisa Sperling; Massachusetts General Hospital: John H. Growdon, Michael A. Schwarzschild, Albert Y. Hung, Alice W. Flaherty, Deborah Blacker, Anne-Marie Wills, Steven E. Arnold, Ann L. Hunt, Nicte I. Mejia, Anand Viswanathan, Stephen N. Gomperts, Mark W. Albers, Maria Allora-Palli, David Hsu, Alexandra Kimball, Scott McGinnis, John Becker, Randy Buckner, Thomas Byrne, Maura Copeland, Bradford Dickerson, Matthew Frosch, Theresa Gomez-Isla, Steven Greenberg, Julius Hedden, Elizabeth Hedley-Whyte, Keith Johnson, Raymond Kelleher, Aaron Koenig, Maria Marquis-Sayagues, Gad Marshall, Sergi Martinez-Ramirez, Donald McLaren, Olivia Okereke, Elena Ratti, Christopher William, Koene Van Dij, Shuko Takeda, Anat Stemmer-Rachaminov, Jessica Kloppenburg, Catherine Munro, Rachel Schmid, Sarah Wigman, Sara Wlodarcsyk; Data Coordination: Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Thomas Yi; Biobank Management Staff: Brigham and Women’s Hospital: Idil Tuncali.”

3. Include the following HBS Funding Acknowledgement in your manuscript:

We thank all study participants and their families for their invaluable contributions. HBS is made possible by generous support from the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center, with additional contributions from the Michael J Fox Foundation, NINDS U01NS082157, U01NS100603, and the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center NIA P50AG005134.

4. Reference a primary HBS publication in your manuscript:

Liu et al. (2017). Prediction of cognition in Parkinson’s disease with a clinical-genetic score: a longitudinal analysis of nine cohorts, Lancet Neurology, 16, 620-629. PMID 28629879.

Ding et al. (2013). Unrecognized vitamin D3 deficiency is common in Parkinson disease: Harvard Biomarker Study, Neurology, 81, 1531-7. PMID: 24068787.

Ding et al. (2011). Association of SNCA with Parkinson: replication in the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center Biomarker Study, Movement Disorders, 26, 2283-6. PMID: 21953863.

Mohammadi (2013) The Harvard Biomarker Study’s big plan. Lancet Neurology, 12, 739-40. PMID: 23809962.

Note that publication requirement 1 is waived for investigators whose use of HBS data is limited to the harmonized HBS data available through the AMP PD portal (without use of additional HBS data or biosamples).