Coriell Institute Awarded $16.3 Million for NIH-Supported National Human Genetics Resource Center

CAMDEN, NJ--(Marketwire - August 14, 2009) - Following a nationwide competition to determine
the future home of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and
Stroke (NINDS) Human Genetics Resource Center, also known as the NINDS
Repository, the Coriell Institute for Medical Research was awarded a
five-year, $16.3 million contract from the National Institutes of Health.

Neurological disorders, including common disorders like stroke, epilepsy,
Parkinson's disease and autism, affect approximately 50 million Americans
each year. Treatments are available to help slow the onset of effects for
some of these common disorders. Yet, among the more than 600 disorders that
affect the nervous system, the rarer disorders are still looked to by
scientists and physicians for clues to a general understanding of
neurological disease and treatments for specific conditions.

Coriell President and CEO Michael F. Christman, Ph.D., believes this award
is a magnificent opportunity for the Institute to continue its mission of
striving to understand human genetic diseases. "The NINDS Repository is
vital to Coriell's fundamental goal of enhancing human health and well
being," Dr. Christman said. "The NINDS Repository contributes to genetic
discoveries that serve as the foundation for personalized medical care."

The NINDS Repository is an international flagship project with the goal of
improving human health by accelerating the discovery of genetic risk
factors for neurological disease -- a process that requires specimens and
clinical data from thousands of individuals. Because most heritable human
diseases, including many neurological diseases, are a result of multiple
genetic risk factors acting in combination with one another and with
environmental components, the discovery process can be daunting and very
difficult for any one biomedical research laboratory to achieve on its own.

The NINDS Repository was founded in 2002 to serve as a centralized national
and international resource of clinical and genetic data from many thousands
of de-identified study participants and assists investigators in their
pursuit to unravel the complexities of neurological disease.

Coriell was awarded the opportunity to establish this valuable resource in
2002. During the first five years of the project, 23,785 individuals
donated their samples and clinical data through the participation of 189
clinician scientists from nine different countries. This remarkable
response resulted in more than 90 publications pertaining to the discovery
of genetic risks for ALS, Parkinson's disease, stroke and epilepsy.

Now, through a competitive-renewal process, Coriell has proven it is the
qualified organization for this collection and will continue its efforts in
this important field. Starting on September 30, 2008, the NINDS Repository
at Coriell began its work under the new contract with the goal of
collecting and distributing 30,000 new and unique genetic samples.

The Principal Investigator, Roderick A. Corriveau, Ph.D., Associate
Professor at Coriell, is honored that NINDS has entrusted this important
project to Coriell: "We look forward to working closely with all
participants, from private citizens who donate their own samples and
clinical data, to clinicians who care for patients with neurological
disorders, to scientists who discover genetic risk factors for neurological
and other diseases."

About Coriell

The Coriell Institute for Medical Research (www.coriell.org) is an
internationally known, non-profit, biomedical research institution
headquartered in Camden, NJ. Founded in 1953, Coriell is the world's
leading biobank resource for human cells and DNAs, and recently initiated
the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative® research study, a
forward-looking project aimed at understanding the utility of
genome-informed medicine and identifying genetic variants associated with
common complex disease and drug metabolism (http://cpmc.coriell.org).

About NINDS

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), is one
of the 27 Institutes and Centers at the NIH, a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. The NINDS is the nation's primary
funder of research on the brain and nervous system. More information about
stroke and other neurological disorders can be found on the NINDS website,
www.ninds.nih.gov.