The Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden has been selected by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to manage the NIMH Repository and Genomics Resource (NRGR), the largest centralized national biorepository for psychiatric research in the United States.
This prestigious multi-year contract is valued at $48,265,314 over the next five years.
The NIMH, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), aims to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses. By choosing Coriell, they are leveraging the institute’s sixty years of expertise in setting global standards for biobanking.
“This award exemplifies our global reputation for scientific excellence, operational integrity, and biobanking expertise,” said Nahid Turan, PhD., Coriell’s Chief Biobanking Officer and Principal Investigator for the NRGR.
The NRGR currently contains over 3.5 million samples from more than 200,000 individuals, including those with psychiatric illnesses and neurotypical controls.
Under the new contract, Coriell will be responsible for:
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Safeguarding and sustaining the existing resource.
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Managing the addition of approximately 16,000 new biological samples and data annually.
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Distributing over 12,000 samples to the global research community each year.
The ultimate goal of the NRGR is to accelerate the understanding of the genetic bases of mental disorders, leading to new diagnostic tools, treatments, and preventive strategies.
“This new contract reflects the expertise we have cultivated over the past six decades, and we are proud to expand Coriell’s mission to unlock the underlying genetic causes of disease in the field of psychiatric disorders,” added Jean-Pierre Issa, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of the Coriell Institute.
