We house the Penn Translational Neuroscience Center Biobank, which provides biofluid samples to researchers within the Penn community and throughout the world.
Counts current to 28 January 2026.
Human-derived specimens, collected over many years, flow into one central biobank from four disease cohorts: Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment (n=3,134), Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies (n=2,189), frontotemporal degeneration (n=1,689) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (n=612) — more than 7,000 participants in all.
Of those, 7,112 have contributed DNA, 7,053 plasma, 2,959 CSF and 2,162 brain tissue. Many have given more than one, which is what makes paired comparisons across biofluids possible.
To request samples, complete the BioSample Request form below and email it to the biobank. Requests are reviewed against the diagnostic criteria and sample counts you specify, and rare or highly specific types of cases may not be available.
The form external investigators complete to request samples. It covers investigator and institution details, the research project and its funding, IRB approval, diagnostic criteria for case selection, sample types and counts, the database fields returned with each sample, a project summary, and the publication, data-return, financial and legal terms.
Receiving and heat-inactivating mailed saliva samples for DNA extraction, using the Oragene-Discover OGR-500 kit.
To request samples or ask about the collection protocols, write to chenplotkinbiobank[at]pennmedicine.upenn.edu.