Initiatives
BrainQUANT’s goal is to bring human brain research, scientific collaboration, and neuroscience training together to advance clinically meaningful discoveries.
Our Approach
1) Brain Collection
BrainQUANT’s has a collection of more than 2,000 autopsy brains accompanied by detailed clinical, developmental, treatment, toxicological, and neuropathological data which we have stored on REDCap. Each brain is carefully examined, preserved, and monitored, creating an exceptional resource for high-quality human brain research into how disease, adversity, medication, and biology shape the brain across the lifespan.
2) Training
Building on this resource, BrainQUANT trains the next generation of neuroscientists by offering students and fellows from Columbia and partner programs hands-on experience in postmortem human brain research. Through faculty mentorship, research support, and laboratory access, trainees develop the skills needed to advance discoveries in brain disease pathogenesis.
BrainQUANT extends the value of its collection by reviewing proposed studies, guiding investigators in the effective use of human brain tissue, designing Specific Aims, and coordinating access to precious specimens across collaborative research projects. BrainQUANT supports promising pilot studies with strong potential to generate major discoveries and result in NIH-funded projects.
3) Quantitative Molecular Approaches
Using human brain tissue, BrainQUANT trains investigators on multi-omic approaches for the investigation of epigenetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic profiles associated with brain diseases and brain aging. Single-cell and spatial omics approaches are used to create cell and brain region atlases of cell types and molecular states within their anatomical context, revealing how brain tissue is organized and altered in disease.
4) Translational Approaches
To translate these findings into a mechanistic understanding of disease biology, candidate molecular targets are tested in cell and animal models to advance drug discovery.
Molecular markers discovered in the human brain are tested in patient blood, through PET radiotracers, and using MRS and MRI imaging approaches, to validate disease biomarkers for patient stratification, disease prevention, and precision treatment.
