ATCC Announces Award from CDC for DNA Plating and Storage Services

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a five-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $1.5 million by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Under this second consecutive contract, ATCC will continue to store and distribute DNA samples to members of the research community who are participating in NHANES.

“ATCC has been supporting the CDC and NHANES program since 2016, and we are excited to expand our collaboration through this contract,” said Raymond H. Cypess, D.V.M., Ph.D., chairman and CEO of ATCC. “The information gained from research using this collection of stored DNA samples, combined with the extensive amount of information available in NHANES, will provide researchers with extensive health, nutritional, and environmental information to further advance US public health.”

NHANES is a program of studies designed to assess adults’ and children’s health and nutritional status in the United States to determine the prevalence of major diseases and their risk factors. With this contract, ATCC will continue to receive and store 70,000 blind DNA samples from approximately 20,000 NHANES consenting participants and process, plate, and ship DNA plates to approved investigators. Additionally, ATCC will provide inventory management and reporting, receive returned DNA samples, and destroy returned, unneeded, or unusable samples, as requested. NHANES requires a DNA specimen repository as its samples are the only collection of stored DNA samples representative of the US population; their use for genetic research allows for generalizations of analytic conclusions at the national level. The materials are available through the Federal Register and require a proposal to the CDC.

“At ATCC, we remain committed to supporting important public health research in the government sector by providing quality biomaterials, as well as our expertise in biological materials management,” said Joseph Leonelli, Ph.D., senior vice president of ATCC Federal Solutions.

ATCC is a premier global biological materials and information resource and standards organization and the leading developer and supplier of authenticated cell lines, microorganisms, and associated data for academia, industry, and government. With a history of scientific contributions spanning nearly a century, ATCC offers an unmatched combination of being the world’s largest and most diverse collection of biological reference materials and data, and is a mission-driven, trusted partner that supports and encourages scientific collaboration. ATCC products, services, partnerships, and people provide the global scientific community with credible, advanced, model systems to support complex research and innovations in basic science, drug discovery, translational medicine, and public health. ATCC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with headquarters in Manassas, Virginia, and a research and technology center of excellence in Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

Contact: Kim Testa, senior director, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, ATCC, [email protected]