Brain banks are being set up for the study of diseases of the nervous system. For a particular disease, for example Parkinson's disease, sufferers often donate their brain for scientific research, and after their death it is preserved by freezing. Microscope slides are made from certain commonly studied areas. Scientists studying the disease need to have access to those slides, and can get other slides made up if required. They also need to know the medical history of the subject (age, sex, medication taken, smoker etc.)
Staff at the brain bank need to be able to access and manipulate all the data, whereas scientists working on the disease need to be able to access just the medical history and images of the microscope slides. Personal information, such as names and addresses must be kept strictly confidential. No decisions have yet been taken on the deployment model for this project, but clearly web access for the scientists is likely to be the best option.
The staff at the Charing Cross Hospital are currently setting out the specification of the information they need to be stored. The project will look into the implementation and security issues, and will design and implement a prototype for evaluation.
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