NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Coriell Institute of Medical Research in New Jersey has been awarded a five-year $4.3 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health.
The award will provide Coriell with funding to maintain the NHGRI Sample Repository — a collection of cell lines and DNA, including samples used by the International HapMap and 1000 Genomes projects, that are distributed to researchers worldwide. The samples include genotype and sequence data, but no identifying or phenotypic information. Since it was established in 2006, the repository has distributed specimens to researchers in 40 countries, the institute said.
"The NHGRI Sample Repository ensures that researchers and institutions have access to the tools required to study human genetic variants and their association with disease susceptibility and other common traits," Coriell President and CEO Michael Christman said in a statement.
"By providing the research community with a standard set of biomaterials of known provenance, the NHGRI has developed a central resource for genome-based studies," Alissa Resch, the repository's principal investigator at Coriell, added. "These resources are critical in the efforts to take full advantage of the Human Genome Project and understand the genetic origin of disease."