Brains for dementia research at 18: Commitment to impact the value of human post-mortem tissue

The Brains for Dementia Research (BDR) project was established to provide high quality, neuropathologically characterized post-mortem brain tissue from a cohort of participants longitudinally assessed for outcomes that are relevant for research in relation to dementia. From its origins in 2008, over 3200 individuals with and without dementia consented to participate in the project and to donate their brains after death. Now, 18 years later over half of these pledges have been collected. Here we celebrate the BDR project and provide an update on its contributions to the field of dementia research thus far, and the future promise of maximizing benefit from this endeavor with the conception of the "BDR Collaborative". The BDR Collaborative seeks to align and intersect data generated on this cohort and to accelerate advances in our understanding of neurodegeneration.