The New York Brain Bank of Columbia University: practical highlights of 35 years of experience.

The New York Brain Bank processes brains and organs of clinically well-characterized patients with age-related neurodegenerative diseases, and for comparison, from individuals without neurologic or psychiatric impairments. The donors, either patients or individuals, were evaluated at healthcare facilities of the Columbia University of New York. Each source brain yields four categories of samples: fresh frozen blocks and crushed parenchyma, and formalin-fixed wet blocks and histology sections.

Intrachromosomal rearrangement of chromosome 3q27: an under recognized mechanism of BCL6 translocation in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Balanced reciprocal translocations involving chromosomal region 3q27, which led to identification of the BCL6 protooncogene, are one of the most common recurrent chromosomal abnormalities reported in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHL). Cloning of the breakpoints of these translocations has facilitated the identification of a number of BCL6 partners including immunoglobulin genes and more than 20 non-immunoglobulin genes on almost all human chromosomes. Fusion of BCL6 with these genes leads to deregulated BCL6 expression because of substitution of its promoter with that of the translocation partner.