NEW YORK, April 8 - Genomics Collaborative said today that it has agreed to let the US National Cancer Institute use its repository of DNA samples so it can validate some earlier discoveries.
The NCI, which approached GCI in this deal, will use DNA samples from 6,000 people to see if a specific receptor gene increases an individual's risk of developing hypertension. An equal number of samples are from people with and without hypertension.
The project should take three to six months to complete, said Mike Pellini, CEO of GCI.
Financial terms of the deal, which is the first time GCI has collaborated with the NCI, were not disclosed.
And why, pray tell, is the NCI, the nation's top cancer-research facility, studying hypertension? In one of those prized moments of clinical serendipity, NCI researchers, while studying a receptor for HIV, found that knocking out a particular gene appeared to affect blood pressure.