Rutgers Wins $9.3M NIH Grant to Create Disease Biobank

NEW YORK, July 10 - The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has awarded Rutgers University a five-year, $9.3 million contract to create a genetic repository.

The New Jersey school said in a statement that the databank will be used by researchers worldwide studying diseases such as diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and kidney disorders.

The database, called the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository, will "collect, maintain, and distribute" cell lines and DNA for the NIDDK from populations worldwide.  

"To date, no such resource has been available to researchers interested in studying genetics of the many diseases that NIDDK investigates," said Jay Tischfield, Duncan and Nancy MacMillan professor of genetics and chair of the department of genetics at Rutgers. The NIDDK a unit of the National Institutes of Health.