When Harry Sanchez, MD, and Marcello DiStasio, MD, PhD, assistant professors of pathology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), established the Yale Legacy Tissue Donation Program in 2022, they envisioned creating a unique and beneficial asset for Yale investigators and researchers.
In less than three years, the program—through the generosity of its donors—has proven to be an invaluable resource, providing YSM researchers with more than 1,500 tissue samples that have been instrumental in several scientific studies. These include a recent study published in Nature that showed that immune cells known as T cells reside in the healthy brains of mice and humans—the first time they have been shown to inhabit the brain under normal, non-diseased conditions. The study acknowledged the Legacy Tissue Donation Program for tissue samples it used.
“Connecting generous donors to researchers who can make impactful contributions with their tissues is one of the central goals of the program,” DiStasio says. “Seeing work published that couldn’t have been done without these kinds of human samples is incredibly rewarding.”
When Sanchez, also director of Autopsy Services for Yale Pathology, created the program, he knew that programs like this had been in existence at other institutions for years. Patients enrolled in the program agree to provide tissue samples after their death. These valuable samples can be obtained in no other way and help advance our understanding and treatment of many types of cancer and other diseases.
“Donating your tissue to research is an absolutely extraordinary act of altruism. The generosity of our donors is gratifying and humbling,” Sanchez says.
‘Invaluable to Research’
Edward Manning, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (pulmonary), has used samples from the program nearly 20 times in his cardiopulmonary research.
“Anatomical gifts provided through the Yale Legacy Tissue Donation Program are invaluable to my research on prolonging the cardiopulmonary healthspan of adults,” Manning says, adding that “without human tissue to aid my research, my research will be limited. With the generous gifts from donors, I have the privilege to investigate human physiology using human tissue.”
David A. Hafler, MD, FANA, William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology and professor of immunobiology, whose research focuses on understanding the fundamental immunology and pathogenesis of human autoimmune disease, works closely with DiStasio to obtain tissue samples.
“It is a game changer to have access to fresh tissue to isolate immune cells from the tissue,” says Hafler, one of the authors of the recent study published in Nature. “We so appreciate the donation and family participation.”
DiStasio says he and Sanchez receive considerable feedback from the families of donors who say the program is “is very much in line with their loved one’s wishes.”
“I get the sense that there are particular people with whom this kind of work resonates, and these families seek it out and are very eager and willing to make donations,” DiStasio says.
Donor-Driven Program
While Sanchez and DiStasio initially expected to receive the majority of tissue donations internally, that has not been the case.
“The majority of our donors have come from the community,” Sanchez says. “Most of our donors were searching for a way to give something to science and to the community and found the Legacy Program. That’s to say that the Legacy Program is a donor-driven program rather than a researcher-driven program. We cannot thank our donors enough.”
Manning says he, too, can’t overlook the selflessness of the donors.
“I believe that the highest form of generosity is to give charity to a stranger you will never meet. Therefore, donors who make anatomical gifts of themselves, literally, are providing the ultimate charity. Their gift will benefit countless strangers they will never know or meet. I view my research involving these gifts as a service to the donor. As a physician-scientist, I feel obligated to honor the final goals of care for this patient. They donated themselves to benefit their fellow humans in any way possible; it is my job to honor that wish.”