DDC Medical, NIST to Commercialise Mouse Cell Line Authentication

According to Hughes P. Marshall D, Reid Y, et al. 2007 BioTechniques 43.575-586, it has been shown that over a third of cell lines used for biomedical research are contaminated or misidentified resulting in wasted resources, unreliable data, and irreproducible results.

Mouse cell lines are commonly used as model systems to study human diseases.  According to Dr.Michael Baird, the Chief Science Officer at DDC, “The addition of mouse cell line authentication is a major step in maintaining the efficacy of biomedical research using cell lines.  We are honored to work with NIST to bring this vitally important test to market.” 

The DDC Medical mouse cell line authentication test uses STR DNA analysis to characterize the mouse DNA.  The loci selected produce stable, robust results based on a tetranucleotide repeat, similar to the types of loci examined for human cell line authentication (H-CLA).  Other mouse cell line tests available use either dinucleotide repeat STR loci that are difficult to interpret, or large SNP arrays that are expensive and time consuming to perform.  The DDC Medical mouse cell line authentication test is inexpensive with a short turnaround time.

DDC Medical currently provides human cell line authentication and mycoplasma detection to academic researchers, biotech, and bio pharma customers.  Recent emphasis by scientific Journals to authenticate cell lines prior to publication has increased awareness of the issues of cell line contamination and misidentification.  Funding sources are also strongly recommending that appropriate quality controls be implemented to ensure cell line integrity.   In late 2013, the Prostate Cancer Foundation initiated requirements to authenticate cell lines used by the PCF’s grant recipients.

DDC’s CEO, Peter Vitulli stated, “With Dr. Baird’s direction, DDC Medical is honored to collaborate with NIST to address contaminated and misidentified mouse cell lines.”