What is the Down syndrome Biorepository?
BRI’s Down Syndrome Biorepository is a confidential list of people with Down syndrome who are willing to donate samples and provide health information for scientific research.
Nearly half of all People people with Down syndrome also have an autoimmune disease. BRI’s team is working to learn why. The ultimate goal of this research is to identify new and better therapeutics to prevent and treat autoimmune diseases in people with Down syndrome. Better understanding why autoimmune diseases are more common among people with Down syndrome may also give scientists more insight into how and why autoimmune diseases start in general.
Biorepository donations from individuals with Down syndrome and their family members are invaluable to this work. This information is kept confidential, and samples and health information are coded with numbers, not names.
We are currently enrolling individuals with Down syndrome with and without autoimmune diseases. Our research includes people with:
- Down syndrome.
- Down syndrome and Type 1 diabetes.
- Down syndrome and celiac disease.
We will begin recruiting Down syndrome patients with other autoimmune diseases in the coming months.
We are also enrolling family members of patients with Down syndrome. Those without an autoimmune disease are eligible for the Healthy Volunteer Registry & Biorepository, and those with an autoimmune disease may be eligible for one of our other repositories.
Learn more: Biorepository FAQ
Join our Down Syndrome biorepository
Bernard Khor, MD, PhD
Understanding Immune System Disease in People With Down Syndrome
BRI researchers use our Down Syndrome Biorepository to study:
- Why having Down syndrome makes a person more likely to develop autoimmune disease.
- How autoimmune diseases may progress differently in people with Down syndrome.
- Which therapies might work best to treat immune system diseases in people with Down syndrome.
- If and how having Down syndrome impacts the effectiveness of vaccines for illnesses like influenza and COVID-19.
Labs Studying Down Syndrome
Khor Lab
Speake Lab
Collaborate with Us
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Benaroya Research Institute Receives $9 Million in Funding, With a Focus on Down Syndrome Research
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Science in Seattle: BRI Awarded $3.4M NIH R01 Grant to Continue Studying Why Immune Responses are Altered in Those with Down Syndrome
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Down syndrome ages the immune system: Condition alters T cells, which act as if the person is up to 18 years older (Portugese)
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Participants like Ayman Make Research Possible
Ayman, 23, enjoys playing the drums and working at MOD Pizza — he was even in one of MOD’s TV commercials. He loves Pepper, his schnoodle (schnauzer-poodle).
$3.5 Million to Study Down Syndrome and the Immune System
What goes wrong in the immune system that causes autoimmune disease or limits its ability to fight infections? That’s the question Bernard Khor, MD, PhD, started with 12 years ago. His search for answers led him somewhere unexpected: to people with Down syndrome.
Research Fuels Change: One Family’s Motivation to Participate
Becky Ronan has seen firsthand how research has impacted life for people with Down syndrome. When her older brother Kevin was born with Down syndrome in 1967, her parents were advised not to bring him home. “Most people with Down syndrome were put in institutions,” Becky says.
