ALS BRAC

The BRAC committee will assess the applications based on experimental rationale, feasibility/reproducibility of the assays, expertise of the investigator, availability of the institutional resources to support the study, and the statistical analysis of the number of samples required for the hypothesis testing.  Investigators will be notified by email the outcome of the review (i.e. approve, approve upon revisions, or deny) within a week after the review meeting.  Summary statements are released 2-3 weeks after review.  For applications that were ‘approved upon revisions’, investigators will be notified about concerns that would need to be addressed before the application could move forward.  Please note that the ALS/FTD BRAC does not provide funding.

If sample access is approved by the ALS/FTD BRAC, the two possible outcomes are:

1. If the study has funding, the samples are distributed to the investigator following a virtual meeting to introduce the sample distribution process (“on-boarding”) and after fulfilment by the investigator of additional requirements specified by BioSEND (i.e. MTA, Data Use Agreement, data analysis and sharing plan).  For questions, please contact Rebecca Price, Ph.D.
2. If the investigator has yet to obtain funding for the study, the BRAC will issue a letter to the applicant documenting provisional access to the samples requested.  This letter can be used to support an application for funding opportunities from the NIH or other organizations.  Conditional approvals will be valid for a period of up to 12 months.

To facilitate scientific rigor and reproducibility, samples for approved applications are shipped blinded (each aliquot is labeled with a Sample ID). The BioSEND team will work with investigators during the onboarding call to create box designs to facilitate blinded analyses. Investigators must return their assay analyses into an appropriate data repository prior to being unblinded by BioSEND.

Barmada, Sami, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Director, Michigan Brain Bank
University Of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Belzil, Veronique, PhD, MS
Associate Professor
Director, Vanderbilt ALS Research Center
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37232

Berry, James, MD, MPH
Chief, Division Of ALS And Motor Neuron Diseases
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts, MA 02114

Bowser, Robert, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Barrow Neurological Institute
Phoenix, AZ 85013

Brown, Robert, MD, DPhil
Professor, Donna M And Robert J Manning Chair In Neuroscience
UMass Chang Medical School, Department Of Neurology
Worcester, MA 01605

Dave, Kuldip, PhD
Senior Vice President Of Research
ALS Association
Arlington, VA 22209

Easton, Amy, PhD
Senior Director Of Scientific Programs
Target ALS
New York, NY 10016

Fratta, Pietro, PhD
Professor, Department Of Neuromuscular Diseases
University College London
London, United Kingdom

Gendron, Tania, PhD
Associate Professor, Department Of Neuroscience
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
Jacksonville, FL 32224

Grunseich, Christopher, MD
Lasker Clinical Research Scholar And Investigator
National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke
Bethesda, MD 20814

Kolb, Stephen, MD, PhD
Professor Of Neurology, Department Of Neurology
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43221

Oskarsson, Bjorn, MD
Neurologist, Associate Professor, Department Of Neurology
Mayo Clinic
Jacksonville, FL 32224

Schneider, Anja, PhD
Professor, German Research Center For Neurodegenerative Diseases
University Of Bonn
Bonn, Germany

Seyfried, Nicolas, PhD
Professor, Department Of Biochemistry And Neurology
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Van Blitterswijk, Marka, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department Of Neuroscience
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
Jacksonville, FL 32224

Van Keuren-Jensen, Kendall, PhD
Vice President For Research And Professor
Bioinnovation And Genome Sciences Division
The Translational Genomics Research Institute
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Walk, David, MD, FAAN
Professor And Neuromuscular Medicine Division Director
Department Of Neurology, University Of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Wuu, Joanne, ScM
Research Associate Professor, Department Of Neurology
University Of Miami
Miami, FL 33126

Xie, Sharon, PhD
Senior Scholar, Center For Clinical Epidemiology And Biostatistics
University Of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104