Good Cell Culture Practice

Nature Announcement: Tackling Mistaken Identity

In a 16 April 2015 Nature editorial titled "Announcement: Time to tackle cells’ mistaken identity," the editors of Nature and the Nature research journals have explained that from next month, they will ask authors to check that they are not working on cells known to have been misidentified or cross-contaminated, and will ask them to provide more details about the source and testing of their cell lines.

To read the announcement, click here.

GBSI #authenticate Campaign

Also on 16 April 2015, the Global Biological Standards Institute (GBSI; Washington, DC, US) launched #authenticate, a campaign designed to raise awareness in the life science community about the powerful role cell authentication can play in improving research reproducibility and fidelity.

 
In advance of the campaign launch, several organizations signed on as #authenticate champions, including the Rare Cancer Research Foundation (RCRF), the Chordoma Foundation (CF), CellBank Australia, the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC), Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF).

In a PR Newswire news release, GBSI President, Dr Leonard Freedman, said: "The support of life sciences leaders like these demonstrates that the extended community understands and embraces this important cultural shift in research best practices." To read the news release, click here.

For more information about the campaign, click here. For information about two campaign surveys, read on.

Opportunity to Provide Valuable Input: Two GBSI Surveys

GBSI is working with an independent survey research firm to gather information about practices related to cell culture and authentication as well as research antibodies. The goal is to learn how researchers view the best practices in each of these areas and what they see as the challenges and barriers to implementing those practices.

I encourage you to share your insight and opinions via the surveys. By clicking here, you can select one or both surveys; each takes less than 10 minutes to complete. All responses will remain confidential, and as an incentive, you have the option at the end of the survey to enter into a drawing to win a $100 Visa gift card.

Just Launched: ICLAC Resources for Authentication Testing Survey

The International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) has just launched a survey for scientists who use cell lines or biosamples in their research. This survey complements GBSI’s cell culture practice survey, with a specific focus on authentication testing resources.

ICLAC Chair, Dr Amanda Capes-Davis, told me that: "If you authenticate your cell lines – either yourself, or by sending samples to a core facility or external testing service – your experience can help us plan for the future. But whether you authenticate your samples or not, all scientists are encouraged to complete the survey to give ICLAC an understanding of what you test, how you test, and identify the critical obstacles that hinder testing. The goal of this survey is to identify solutions to make authentication accessible to our entire community."

The ICLAC survey consists of 25 questions and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. A link to the survey can be found here.

ICLAC is a voluntary and independent group of scientists that aims to make cell line misidentification more visible and promote authentication testing as a solution to this important problem. Members and Partner Organizations come from six countries – Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the US.