UC Irvine's Brain Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) Brain Procurement Program for the Center for Multiomic Human...

High-quality neurotypical postmortem human brain tissue is essential but difficult to obtain for constructing comprehensive human brain cell atlases. Here we describe the establishment of UC Irvine's Brain Procurement Program, a coordinated initiative to collect and process neurotypical donor brains for multiomic mapping studies within the NIH BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network (BICAN) consortium. Through partnerships with the Orange County Coroner's Office, the UC Irvine Willed Body Program, UCI Medical Center, and the Children's Hospital of Orange County, we have developed standardized workflows encompassing donor identification, postmortem brain recovery and processing, region-of-interest dissection, neurotypical donor selection, and data management. Our experience demonstrates the feasibility of a community-based, multi-institutional procurement framework while highlighting challenges in recruiting neurotypical donors and ensuring demographic representation reflective of Southern California. We further identify opportunities to strengthen outreach and donation pathways. This program provides a scalable model for advancing population-reflective, high-quality human brain cell atlas efforts.