Agilent Technologies, Cell Line Genetics Collaborate

Agilent Technologies reported its collaboration with Cell Line Genetics (CLG), a provider of cell-line characterization and quality assurance services. CLG will develop high-throughput, genomic characterization workflows to confirm and monitor the integrity of cell lines for translational and regenerative medicine research. The workflows will be based upon Agilent’s custom, targeted CGH+SNP microarrays and SureFISH technology.

CLG selected Agilent’s genome-wide CGH+SNP microarrays for their capability, in a predictable high-throughput environment, to detect amplifications, deletions, and cell line clonality with high sensitivity. CLG will use FISH assays to confirm aberrations identified down to the single-cell level. This approach provides a means of characterizing genome integrity and purity.

For cancer cell line characterization, CLG will offer array CGH (aCGH) services as it is able to simultaneously detect a large number of anomalies more accurately, with higher sensitivity, and with better coverage than traditional cytogenetics. In addition, when using aCGH, CLG can offer a faster turnaround time to customers.
After testing more than 15,000 stem cell lines, CLG found that 20% showed aneuploidy, and 60-70% of those were mosaic. Most significantly, the cells harboring genomic anomalies can have a proliferative advantage and overtake the culture, compromising the validity of study data and resulting in the loss of samples, time and funds.

Source: Cell Line Genetics