Substance abuse researchers can now benefit from a resource that allows scientists to gather, share and compare human-subjects data. The Consensus Measures for Phenotype and eXposures (PhenX) Toolkit, which now contains 43 additional substance abuse and addiction measures, will increase the ability of scientists to combine data and work together across studies, promoting the identification of gene-gene or gene-environment interactions related to substance abuse and addiction.

On February 24, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) issued a Notice to the NIH Guide encouraging its grantees to incorporate the PhenX measures, which were chosen by working groups of expert scientists and vetted through community outreach prior to their inclusion. By encouraging the use of this toolkit, NIDA hopes to promote collaboration among researchers from around the world to enhance scientific knowledge in the field of substance abuse and addiction.

For more information on the PhenX Toolkit, which is led by RTI International with funding from NHGRI, visit: www.drugabuse.gov/researchers/research-resources/data-harmonization-projects . For the February 24th Notice to the NIH Guide, go to: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-DA-12-008.html. For the RTI International press release announcing the new measures, go to: www.rti.org/news.cfm?objectid=AAF0E35F-5056-B100-310614E4068F5923.