| Abstract |
This edition of the catalog is dedicated to Dr. Arthur E. Green who
retired from the Coriell Institute for Medical Research on May 1, 1992
after 39 years of dedicated service. Since its inception in 1972, Dr.
Greene served as either the Director or Assistant Director of the National
Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Human Genetic Mutant Cell
Repository. Dr. Greene helped to develop many of the basic techniques of
culture which have become standard around the world. He coauthored more
than 170 publications covering a wide range of topics, including polio
virus cultivation, insect cell line cultivation and identification, and
the cryogenic storage of cell lines. His easy-going manner and his
encyclopedic knowledge of the collections will be greatly missed.
Nineteen ninety-two marked the twentieth anniversary of the NIGMS Human
Genetic Mutant Cell Repository. During the 1950's and 1960's, scientific
research had turned increasingly toward working with cultured cells.
However serious problems with interspecies and intraspecies contamination
and misidentification were discovered that invalidated research findings.
Dr. DeWitt Stetten, Director of the NIGMS, realized that the solution
would be to establish a national collection which would house well
documented, highly characterized, contamination-free cell cultures which
would be available to all qualified scientists. Following a national
competition, the Coriell Institute was awarded its first contract in 1972.
As science advanced, so have the services offered by the CCR. Somatic cell
hybrid mapping panels, regional mapping panels, extended family pedigrees
and cultures from vanishing populations are now part of collection. DNA is
also being provided for many of the cultures in the collection. The next
decade will probably witness additional changes in the scope of the NIGMS
Repository's activities.
Since 1972, the CCR have processed more than 13,000 submitted cell
cultures, solid tissue biopsies, and peripheral blood specimens and
provided more than 60,000 cell cultures and 2,500 DNA samples to
investigators. These activities have resulted in a worldwide reputation
for excellent, well characterized, thoroughly documented and contamination
free cell cultures and high quality DNA samples.
This edition of the catalog lists a total of 5,270 cell cultures and 275
DNA samples. The format of the catalog has been revised and three sections
have been added or updated: Specially Characterized Lymphoblast Cultures,
Extended Families - Lymphoblast Cultures, and Human Diversity Collection -
Lymphoblast Cultures. The first section contains cultures characterized by
HLA typing, the second contains cultures from the Amish, Utah, and
Venezuelan pedigrees as well as a listing of pedigrees found elsewhere in
the catalog that should prove useful for gene linkage studies, and the
third section lists cultures from a variety of diverse human populations
such as Amerindians, Melanesians, Pygmies, Japanese, Cambodians, and
Chinese. Many of the cultures found in this section are part of the Yale-
Stanford collection and are a representative sample of the larger
collection that is available from the contributor, Dr. Kenneth Kidd (Yale
University).
Appendix D, which presents the diagrammatic representation of
chromosomally aberrant cell cultures has been revised and updated for the
16th edition and a new series of diagrams showing the human chromosomes or
of human chromosomes present in the collection of human/rodent somatic
cell hybrids has been added to the catalog section containing the to this
collection.
Investigators are encouraged to contact the Repository to submit specimens
from individuals with well documented genetic diseases or somatic cell
hybrids retaining human chromosomes not currently in the collection.
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