The FTDN seeks to increase research involving FTLD tissue, responding to the need for streamlined access to high-quality tissue from patients who have undergone extensive clinical and neuropathological characterization. With an initial $1 million from the Rainwater Charitable Foundation and $250,000 from CurePSP, a collaborative network of brain banks has launched the first phase of their three-phase plan to enhance brain bank bioinformatics infrastructure and create centralized and streamlined access to brain tissue samples that are essential for FTD research.

Dr. Amy Rommel, Scientific Program Director for the Rainwater Charitable Foundation, said, “Once the vision for these four biobanks is fully realized, it will dramatically increase meaningful use of brain tissue in FTD research.” Todd Rainwater, Trustee of the Rainwater Charitable Foundation, added, “A clear unmet need in the field is access to data and tissue. Opening up these resources to the research community will surely get us to effective treatments for patients sooner.”