Researchers and/or principal investigators (PIs) are encouraged to contact our core staff and/or core director, Charles Wang, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., regarding the experiment design prior to the sample submission. To initiate your project, please download, fill out the FGC MIAME and Sample Submission Form (link to file: COH BRI FGC Sample Submission 4-11-12.pdf ) and submit it to the Functional Genomics Core. You are asked to fill out all fields in the MIAME and Sample Submission Form which will then be reviewed by our core staff.  Your PI has to sign and date the form before your project can be started. Please contact the following appropriate core staff regarding your project depending on the platform and technologies of your choice.

Sample Submissions

Quality check is required for all samples by the core using Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100, NanaDrop1000 or Qubit 2.0. Samples that fail the quality analysis will be returned to researcher and ask for replacement.

RNA Submissions

All RNA must be clean and free from protein and DNA contamination and meet the following minimum requirements:

• 260/280 ratios must be between 1.9 and 2.1
• 260/230 ratios must be above 1.8 (if < 1.8, samples has organic contaminants)
• We recommend using the QIAGEN RNeasy columns for total RNA purification. When working with Qiagen RNeasy columns for use with the Affymetrix system, please do not use β-mercaptoethanol; it is unnecessary and can cause high background in your GeneChips.
• For small RNA: Perform total RNA purification that retains the small RNA such as Qiagen miRNeasy Kit. Total RNA must be submitted, and please do not do the enrichment step. miRNA samples will require two quality control (QC) steps: one for total RNA and one for small RNA.
• Usually, 500 ng -1 µg RNA is good enough for QC and sample preparation. But it is varied depending on the technologies of your choice. Please check with our core staff for specific requirement.

DNA Submissions

• 260/280 ratios must be between 1.8 and 2.0
• 260/230 ratios must be above 2.0 (if < 2, samples has organic contaminants)
• Genomic DNA can be extracted using any method that generated high quality DNA.
• Amplified DNA must be purified, and we recommend using the Qiagen QiaQuick PCR purification protocol with samples eluted in nuclease-free water or the elution buffer provided by in the kit.
• 1-2 µg DNA is required for success analysis. But it is varied depending on the technologies of your choice. Please check with our lab staff for specific requirement.