Global Brain Bank
The mission of the Concussion Legacy Foundation Global Brain Bank is to accelerate research by collaborating with leading scientists at brain banks around the globe to understand, prevent, treat, and eventually cure CTE and other consequences of sports-related brain trauma.
The Problem
CTE is a global problem, but due to a lack of brain tissue, few researchers outside the United States can study CTE, creating a lack of awareness that CTE exists outside the U.S. CTE has been diagnosed in athletes with a history of playing global sports such a football (soccer), rugby, and ice hockey, and in countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil. The sheer number of CTE cases diagnosed in the U.S. in the last decade has surprised researchers and raised the concern that CTE is far more prevalent in contact sports than once thought. We urgently need answers, and the Concussion Legacy Foundation Global Brain Bank will activate scientists from every corner of the globe in the fight against CTE.
The Opportunity
Prior to 2008, there were no academic research centers focused on CTE. That year, CLF partnered with leading experts in neurodegenerative disease pathology at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Boston University (BU) in 2008 to create the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, now the most successful athlete brain donation program in the world. While the scientists independently lead the research, CLF leads outreach, recruiting, and education efforts. Prior to 2008, only 45 cases of CTE had been diagnosed worldwide since 1928. Since then, more than 600 brains have been donated to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, leading to 325 new CTE cases and redefining our understanding of CTE.
Pledge Your Brain
Brain donation is critical to understanding how to treat CTE in living athletes, and to learning how to prevent CTE in the next generation. More than 3,000 people have pledged their brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation for research on concussions and CTE. Join famous athletes like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brandi Chastain, Hayley Wickenheiser, Elana Meyers Taylor, Ian Roberts, Peter FitzSimons, Colin Scotts and Nick Buoniconti, and leave your legacy by making the #MyLegacyPledge and signing up to donate your brain.
Leadership
Some of the world’s greatest researchers on brain trauma and CTE are collaborating to advance toward a cure for this disease that affects athletes and military veterans all over the world.
Collaborators
Explore the CLF Global Brain Bank’s international collaborators.
