Agreement replaces previous, just-expired contract and will run for five years.

NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has awarded SeraCare Life Sciences a new, potentially $17.6 million five-year contract to advise on the collection, processing, and storage of biosamples. The new NHLBI agreement replaces a contract which expired at the end of April.

SeraCare says it will also continue to acquire, store, and distribute biospecimens to the scientific community for use in research on transfusion-transmitted diseases and other blood, cardiovascular, and respiratory disorders.

SeraCare currently stores and manages over 15 million biological samples for government and commercial customers, notes Susan Vogt, president and CEO. “Our relationship with the NHLBI has been in place for more than 12 years, and we are pleased to continue this important strategic collaboration.” The firm’s product pipeline includes diagnostic controls, plasma-derived reagents and molecular biomarkers, biobanking, and contract research services. Just last week SeraCare announced the addition of differentiated Cryo-M human monocytes to its AccuCell™ peripheral blood mononuclear cell portfolio. In March the firm launched its Worldwide HIV Performance Panel, representing a group of HIV-positive plasma samples with diverse variants of HIV for use in evaluating HIV assays against multiple strains of the virus.

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