National Neurological AIDS Bank
About the National Neurological AIDS Bank (NNAB)
Established in 1998, the National Neurological AIDS Bank (NNAB) is a longitudinal study of persons with advanced AIDS and other serious diseases. The NNAB was established to better understand how HIV-1 causes neurological disease and to gain insight on co-morbid conditions. The research study collaborates with scientists and researchers all over the world who are studying neurological diseases, and supplies them with valuable human tissue and fluid samples.
Adult volunteers who join the NNAB are asked to have neurological and neuropsychological examinations during their lifetime, to donate blood and other biological samples during their life, and to donate their brains and other organs to research upon their death. The examinations are conducted in both English and Spanish and participants are compensated for their time. The participants of the NNAB include men and women age 18 and older. The NNAB cohort consists of different ethnicities, racial backgrounds, and socioeconomic groups.
Want to join the NNAB?
The NNAB is always looking to recruit new participants in our study. Participants are compensated for each visit and can be provided transportation to and from study locations as needed.
Individuals who are interested in participating in our research study should call 310-206-1151 and ask for the Study Coordinator.
More about the NNAB
The NNAB is a longitudinal study of well-characterized subjects with advanced AIDS and HIV-seronegative (HIV-) subjects, who have agreed to have serial neurological and neuropsychological examinations during their life, and to donate blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) during life and their organs and tissues after their death. NNAB collects these tissues and organs and distributes them to qualified investigators for research into the pathogenesis of Neuro-AIDS.
NNAB characterizes its cohort using standardized NNTC protocols in Neuromedicine, Neuropsychology, Psychiatry/Substance Abuse, and Neuropathology, to achieve consensus diagnoses that are monitored by the NNTC Quality Assurance Committees. In addition, NNAB independently collects information that is essential to study the association between co-morbid medical conditions, such as Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, hypertension, diabetes, lipid disorders, as well as the adverse effects of retroviral therapy and HIV neurological disease. The NNAB cohort is unique because of its diversity, and reflects the gender, ethnic, and racial distribution of AIDS in Los Angeles.
NNAB has stimulated the development of independently funded projects studying CSF viral load, HCV and the nervous system, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) as a tool for following HIV neurological disease. These projects and the information they generate further enrich the value of our tissue collection. NNAB provides an increasingly important resource that mirrors the changing face of the AIDS epidemic and is capable of adapting as the needs of investigators dictate.
