A reporter with the Wall Street Journal investigating the relationship between the Ebola virus disease and a rare genetic disorder referenced Coriell's world-renowned biobank.
Amy Dockser Marcus, a senior writer focused primarily on health topics and trends, explored the prospective connection linking Ebola and Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC), a rare and ultimately fatal neurological disorder diagnosed mainly in children.
The link was established by a pair of scientific papers published in Nature and Nature Biotechnology in 2011. Researchers were able to determine that Ebola virus cell entry and replication relies on NPC1, a cholesterol transport protein which if mutated, is known to cause a form of Niemann-Pick disease.
Subsequent research indicates the same NPC gene may also guard against Ebola.
Scientists at several top institutions, including the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, have conducted studies in recent years using mice to try and understand the connection between mutations in this gene and Ebola resistance.
And Coriell Institute, recognized as housing the most diverse collection of biospecimen available to the international research community, currently paces the field and features 47 NPC cell lines.
"Coriell has a demonstrated legacy of contributing to imperative public health research initiatives," says Dr. Nahid Turan, principal investigator for the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Human Genetic Cell Repository at the Institute.
"Ebola is a devastating disease, and any insights we are able to gain will be of critical importance."
The NIGMS Human Genetic Cell Repository at Coriell Institute is sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (contract HHSN263200900026C).
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