Cell Authentication
Cell and microbe authentication matters
Cell and microbial authentication is of the utmost importance; skipping the authentication step can lead to lost time and money and retractions of publication as cross-contamination or misidentification has invalidated the data that that research is built upon. It's thought that 18-36% of cell lines used in scientific research are either misidentified, duplicated, or cross-contaminated, making research results invalid. The cost of ignoring authentication is more than monetary, as over 32,000 scientific articles have based their results on misidentified cell lines.
To address this problem, biomaterial validation is now required for grant funding and by a number of scientific journals.
ATCC offers scientists a range of high-quality authentication testing services backed by nearly a century of experience in biomaterial management and authentication standards. ATCC can help you find the solutions that best meet your needs—explore the authentication offerings and let us help you guarantee the integrity of your research.
> Click here for the Cell Authentication PDF
> Click here to enquire about ATCC
The problem of cell line misidentification has persisted for over 50 years, highlighting concerns of data integrity and reproducibility among life science researchers. Cell line misidentification, cross-contamination, and genetic drift have resulted in inconsistent or invalidated studies. As such, establishing a human cell line’s identity through Short Tandem Repeat (STR) profiling has become essential in conducting valid, reproducible, impactful research.
In 2015, the NIH released the “Enhancing Reproducibility through Rigor and Transparency” Notice to inform scientists of the revised application instructions for funding grants submitted beginning January 25, 2016.
The notice specifically states:
NIH expects that key biological and/or chemical resources will be regularly authenticated to ensure their identity and validity for use in the proposed studies.
These include, but are not limited to, cell lines, specialty chemicals, antibodies and other biologics.
It is key to be aware of which journals have set guidelines for cell line authentication prior to publication.
> Read the notice here
Your research is important. Your data can inspire incredible breakthroughs and improve human lives throughout the world. Don’t let crowd-sourced genomic data generated using unauthenticated materials limit your discoveries.
Reproducible research starts with credible biological materials. That’s why we have made a commitment to the scientific community to provide reference-quality, whole-genome sequencing data through the ATCC Genome Portal. Our Enhanced Authentication Initiative not only enriches the characterization of our biological collections by using next-generation sequencing but also includes making those data available to everyone. We hope our credible materials paired with whole-genome sequences lead to easier scientific collaboration, greater confidence in experimental outcomes, and better reproducibility in research.
Explore our resources below to learn more about our standardized approach to genome sequencing, assembly, and annotation. If you have a specific organism from the ATCC repository that you would like us sequence and publish on the ATCC Genome Portal, please send us a request.
> Genome Portal
By combining QIAGEN's best-in-class bioinformatics solutions with ATCC's fully authenticated and characterized cell lines, researchers are offered unparalleled access to the accurate datasets and credible materials needed to streamline the discovery of gene signatures, biomarkers, and therapeutic targets. Through this partnership, one thousand whole-transcriptome (RNAseq) datasets will be created each year for ATCC gold-standard cell lines and provided through the ATCC Cell Line Land database.
Cell lines have revolutionized research by replacing primary cells from living tissue, but they do not always replicate accurately. If cell lines are not authenticated by a trusted source like ATCC, they could be contaminated and misidentified. This means researchers usually have to spend weeks or even months sequencing and characterizing cell lines before they can use them for preclinical research. ATCC Cell Line Land provides not only sequencing data on the cell lines, but also detailed information about actual lots of cell lines stored in ATCC’s biorepository, guaranteeing each sample’s intact provenance and its quality as ready-to-use. As a result, researchers can quickly identify and access credible, authenticated and characterized cell lines, enabling faster and more reliable biopharma preclinical research results.
Download the White Paper
Cell Authentication Services
Verifying the identify and purity of your human cell lines is essential to the integrity of your research. ATCC provide that vital information through their FTA Sample Collection Kit for Human Cell Authentication Service.
This human cell authentication assay identifies short tandem repeat (STR) markers—tiny repeating segments of DNA found between genes—at specific loci to establish a DNA fingerprint for every human cell line. ATCC use multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to simultaneously amplify the amelogenin gene and 17 of the most informative polymorphic markers in the human genome. The pattern of repeats results in a unique STR identity profile for each cell line analyzed. ATCC perform STR profiling following ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 quality standards.
> Learn more
In the past, there was no validated means to confirm whether your mouse cells were misidentified or contaminated, and, as a result, corrupting your research. Today, there is—through ATCC's FTA Sample Collection Kit for Mouse Cell Authentication Service, which uses short tandem repeat (STR) profiling. Already considered the gold standard for authenticating human cells, STR profiling is now the benchmark for authenticating mouse cells.
> Learn more
Mycoplasma corrupts cell cultures easily—and without scientists’ knowledge—for a multitude of reasons. Mycoplasma doesn’t cause media turbidity or pH changes, brings about few metabolic byproducts, and can’t be detected by microscopy. Once it has contaminated cells, mycoplasma can cause chromosomal aberrations, disrupt nucleic acid synthesis, change membrane antigenicity, inhibit cell proliferation and metabolism, decrease transfection rates, change gene expression profiles, and even bring about cell death. For these reasons, routine screening of cell lines for mycoplasma contamination is essential.
To help you detect or rule out mycoplasma contamination of your cell cultures quickly, ATCC offers two different mycoplasma testing services to choose from: PCR-based mycoplasma testing, which is rapid and sensitive, and culture-based mycoplasma testing, which is also sensitive and includes both direct and indirect culture methods
> PCR-based Mycoplasma Detection
> Culture-based Mycoplasma Testing
Cell Line Authentication: Protect Your Research and Reputation Webinar
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On-Demand Webinar
Key Takeaways
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