Coriell Inst. Wins Federal Funds

Camden, New Jersey's The Coriell Institute for Medical Research has won an $8.6 million award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a component of the National Institutes of Health.

"This award will enable the Coriell Institute to establish an exciting and powerful new collection of cells for use in research throughout the entire scientific community on stroke and a variety of other neurological diseases," says Jeanne C. Beck, Ph.D., director of the Coriell Cell Repositories and Coriell Institute's scientific leader of the project.

To support its mission of reducing the burden of neurological illnesses and to support outstanding investigators funded through its research programs, the NINDS has established a Human Genetics Resource Center: DNA and Cell Line Repository. Through a competitive process, an award for collecting, storing, characterizing, and distributing biomaterials for the Repository has been made to the Coriell Institute.

The goal of the Repository will be to sort out the genetic factors associated with neurological diseases. "Genetic studies of neurological disorders are increasing in number and complexity; therefore, studies require a large and diverse sample and accompanying information base," explains Dr. Beck. "A repository of DNA samples, immortalized cell lines (from which DNA can be extracted continuously), and accompanying clinical and pedigree data are clearly an invaluable resource for the neuroscience community."

More than 600 disorders afflict the nervous system. Common disorders such as stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson disease, and autism are well known, but most are rare and difficult to diagnose. Neurological disorders strike an estimated 50 million Americans each year, exacting an incalculable personal toll and an annual economic cost of hundreds of billions of dollars in medical expenses in lost productivity.

The NINDS is the nation's leading supporter of biomedical research on disorders of the brain and nervous system. "Initially, the NINDS bank will focus on three diseases: stroke, epilepsy, and Parkinson disease - all of which have an enormous social and economic impact on our country and which Congressional mandates to learn more about the diseases have been established," says Katrina Gwinn-Hardy, M.D., project officer of the NINDS-NIH project and a physician specializing in Parkinson disease. As the project expands, other diseases are anticipated for inclusion in the collection. "Our ultimate goal is to develop better diagnostic and prognostic statements about these diseases and to see advances in gene discovery which elucidates underlying biological mechanisms of neurological diseases."

An NINDS repository will allow receipt, storage, maintenance, standardization, quality control, and equitable, ethical distribution of DNA and other resources important to research in neurological diseases. This will allow sharing of resources and thus will encourage work by junior investigators, investigators with novel approaches, and others not included in current collaborations, without excluding those who are established in their fields. Elaborates Dr. Gwinn-Hardy, "It will ensure that research participants will be making a maximal contribution, and decrease duplicative sampling efforts."

"This new federal funding will help Coriell continue its outstanding research work to help improve the quality of life in our country," said Rep. Rob Andrews (N.J.-01). "Coriell's unmatched reputation in the medical research community was the driving force in the award of this grant and I am pleased that such an international resource is in my district. I look forward to working with Coriell on future projects that benefit both the City of Camden and the global health research community."

The Coriell Institute for Medical Research houses the Coriell Cell Repositories, the world's largest cell culture collection for use in research. This enormous repository forms a central and irreplaceable resource for the worldwide scientific community. Since the inception of the Coriell Cell Repositories in 1972, more than 125,000 cell cultures and more than 100,000 DNA samples have been distributed to researchers in 59 nations to conduct scientific research.

During his remarks at a kickoff ceremony on September 27 to launch the Institute's first fifty years of scientific contributions, Coriell president David P. Beck, Ph.D. stated that the Institute provides a significant part of the economic horsepower of the Southern New Jersey region, bringing in millions of dollars worth of funding from federal and other sources. He then added, "This award from NINDS is especially meaningful at a time when the Coriell Institute is celebrating its past scientific achievements and looking to the future for growth in research."

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Author: Press Release-Amy E Leach