One goal of the GTEx pilot study was to assess the feasibility of collecting a large number of normal, high-quality biospecimens. This goal was met in 2.5 years with the collection of samples from 190 donors. The first set of molecular analysis data from the GTEx pilot, including RNA sequencing data was published in May 2015.11–17 Due to the overwhelming proof of feasibility during the pilot, the NIH Common Fund committed support to continue the GTEx project. Therefore the GTEx study is ongoing and will continue through the end of 2015 and aims to collect a total of 900 cases.
