NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – SRA International has won a contract valued at up to $17.9 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue to support The Cancer Genome Atlas project, the company said yesterday.
The contract research firm, which has been working with TCGA since the project's beginning in 2006, will continue to support TCGA's Data Coordinating Center.
SRA's responsibilities as a DCC contractor include collecting, transforming, disseminating, and conducting quality assurance on all of the data generated by the more than 60 organizations that are contributing to the TGCA network including universities, cancer centers, and other private companies.
On top of its duties supporting the DCC and the TCGA data portal, under the new contract SRA will develop a Data Algorithm Repository and will provide direct bioinformatics support to the TCGA Program Office.
The first 18 months of the five-year task order are funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and it will be worth the full $17.9 million if all options are exercised, the Fairfax, Va.-based company said.
TCGA is a joint effort by the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute that is aimed at characterizing cancer tumors at the molecular level so that researchers may use that information in their efforts to develop new ways to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer.