The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) within NIH awarded a five year contract for up to $19 million to RUCDR Infinite Biologics, a unit of Rutgers Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey. RUCDR is the world’s largest university-based biorepository located on the Rutgers campus in New Jersey.
According to Jay Tischfield, CEO, and Founder of RUCDR Infinite Biologics, “Under the new contract, RUCDR will expand and provide improved services through the NIDA Center for Genetic Studies.
The NIDA Center for Genetic Studies is a scientific resource providing information on the human molecular genetics of drug addiction. The center stores clinical and diagnostic data and biomaterials from human subjects participating in studies. This information is used to form the NIDA Genetics Consortium.
The data is received with blood samples of other biospecimens from funded grants and/or contracts supporting research on the genetics of addiction and at that point, the data and materials are processed to create databases. The data and materials housed in the NIDA Human Genetics Initiative is available to qualified investigators where the data and biomaterials are maintained and stored.
RUCDR has a similar agreement with NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to support the NIMH Center for Collaborative Genomics Research on Mental Disorders, providing services to NIMH-funded scientists studying mental disorders. A $44.5 million five year cooperative agreement renewal was awarded in 2013.