Notice Number: NOT-NS-15-046

Key Dates
Release Date: November 3, 2015

Issued by
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is announcing the creation of a dedicated NINDS Biomarkers Repository, which will be housed and curated by Indiana University. The NINDS is releasing this Notice in order to underscore 1) important dates in activities for those currently banking samples and data for biomarkers projects and 2) to inform future banking projects of the need to include a budget in their projects/applications in order to ensure the ability to bank with the NINDS Repository.

The Biomarker collections already banked under NINDS Biomarkers Programs, including but not limited to the Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Program (PDBP), BioFIND, PREDICT-HD (Huntington's Disease) and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration due to MAPT (FTLD-MAPT) will be transferred to Indiana University from their existing biobanks (for example, in the case of PDBP, from Coriell Institute for Medical Research).

Background

Identification and validation of biomarkers for neurological disorders will enable early diagnosis as well as provide information on disease progression and targets for therapeutic development. Challenges to biomarkers identification include a lack of standardization of collection, storage, and distribution protocols for biospecimens, and limited sample availability. To overcome these obstacles, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is establishing a dedicated Human Biomarkers Repository.

To date, NINDS has several programs that collect human biospecimens and associated clinical data for biomarkers research, including but not limited to Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Huntington’s Disease (HD), Traumatic Brain Injury, and Fronto-temporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD); these types of activities are likely to expand to include other disorders. Considering the significant potential of biomarkers in neurological disease, the NINDS is creating the Biomarkers Repository to provide dedicated infrastructure across the NINDS portfolio towards the advancement of biomarker discovery and validation.

Description of Timeline and Requirements of This Resource

All new biomarkers sample and associated data collections will be banked via a grant to Indiana University. Sample types will include DNA, Plasma, Serum, Whole Blood, Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF), and RNA. Collections limited to DNA for gene discovery, Immortalized Peripheral Stem Cells (IPSC) and Fibroblast lines will be housed in a separate, dedicated repository.

Note that in order to accomplish the transition of this resource:

• For future banking, funds in planned grant application should be allocated to offset some of the cost of biospecimen banking in this resource. A strategy for this budget item should be developed in collaboration with the Program Director/Principal Investigator of the Biomarkers Repository and your Program Official. If you are planning to bank Biomarkers samples in the future, please contact your Program Official.
• Coriell is no longer accepting requests from current projects for biomarkers collection kits (as of October 23, 2015) and will stop accepting biospecimen submissions on November 30, 2015.
• Indiana University will begin accepting requests for collection kits for biomarkers projects on November 2, 2015 and will begin accepting biospecimen submissions on December 1, 2015

For specific instructions regarding a particular existing banking project or a planned project, please contact your Program Official, or the NINDS contact listed below.

In order to manage this resource in a fiscally responsible manner, all potential users of this resource are advised to contact NINDS program staff in advance of submission of a grant in which this resource will be utilized for banking samples.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Katrina Gwinn, MD
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Telephone: 301-496-5745
Email: gwinnk@ninds.nih.gov