NEW YORK, Dec. 3 - The University of Chicago said Monday it was joining the National Clinical Genomics Initiative, a partnership between clinical genomics company Ardais and several American medical institutions.
"Through the National Clinical Genomics Initiative, all the medical institutions in the initiative can collect samples according to one standardized set of protocols, thereby ensuring the highest standards,” Thomas Krausz, the director of Anatomic Pathology at the University of Chicago Hospitals and head of the new program, said in a statement.
“Our investigators will gain access through this collection to thousands of clinical materials and derivatives, with associated information, with which to design clinically relevant experiments," he said.
The National Clinical Genomics Initiative is designed to provide researchers with an integrated repository of r clinical materials, associated information, and bioinformatics tools.
Other members include the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Duke University Medical, and Maine Medical Center.
Ardais of Lexington, Mass., collects, processes, and archives data from human tissue samples left over following surgical procedures. The company also converts the samples and associated medical information into a format that can be used for research purposes.
Ardais develops bioinformatics technologies and collects tissue information to help its partners advance their drug discovery programs. The company’s data is housed in its BIGR Library.