A freezer malfunction at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital has severely damaged one-third of the worlds largest collection of autism brain samples, potentially setting back research on the disorder by years, scientists say.

An official at the renowned brain bank in Belmont discovered that the freezer had shut down in late May, without triggering two alarms. Inside, they found 150 thawed brains that had turned dark from decay; about a third of them were part of a collection of autism brains.

This was a priceless collection, said Dr. Francine Benes, director of the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, where the brains were housed. You cant express its value in dollar amounts, said Benes, who is leading one of two internal investigations into the freezer failure.

The damage to these brains could slow autism research by a decade as the collection is restored, said Carlos Pardo, a neuropathologist and associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University.

The collection, owned by the advocacy and research organization Autism Speaks, yields very, very important information that allows us to have a better understanding of what autism is, as well as the contribution of environmental and immune factors, said Pardo, whose 2004 study of brains stored in the bank was the first to find that autism involves the immune system. The benefit has been great.

With that understanding, more effective treatment or prevention becomes possible.

The McLean freezer, one of 24 in the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, was protected by two separate alarm systems, and staff checked an external thermostat twice a day to ensure that the tissue samples were maintained at about minus-80 degrees Celsius. But on May 31, center Assistant Director George Tejada opened so-called Freezer U and wasnt greeted by the expected blast of cold air. Though the alarms had not been triggered and the external thermostat read minus-79, the actual temperature was 7 degrees, roughly equivalent to a refrigerator. Based on the condition of the brains, Benes estimates the freezer had turned off three days earlier.

Benes said the situation is so unusual - the perfect storm of alarm and thermostat failure and the concentration of samples - that she cannot rule out foul play. She said she has not spoken to law enforcement officials, pending the completion of the internal investigation.

In the interim, she said, McLean will upgrade security in the freezer room, which is under lock and key and watched by a surveillance camera.

The freezer contained about 150 brain samples from people who had died with a neurological condition such as autism, Parkinsons disease, or Alzheimers disease, or a psychiatric one like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

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Freezer failure at brain bank hampers autism research