Authentication: A Standard Problem or a Problem of Standards?
Open accessAbstract
Reproducibility and transparency in biomedical sciences have been called into question, and scientists have been found wanting as a result. Putting aside deliberate fraud, there is evidence that a major contributor to lack of reproducibility is insufficient quality assurance of reagents used in preclinical research. Cell lines are widely used in biomedical research to understand fundamental biological processes and disease states, yet most researchers do not perform a simple, affordable test to authenticate these key resources. Here, we provide a synopsis of the problems we face and how standards can contribute to an achievable solution.
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Implementation of cell line authentication techniques is still falling short for multiple reasons, including time and financial constraints, lack of training and lack of (international) standards.
“However, implementation of these techniques is still falling short for multiple reasons, including time and financial constraints, lack of training and lack of (international) standards [55].”
From The ghosts of HeLa: How cell line misidentification contaminates the scientific literature (2017) · cites this paper as [55]
The techniques for proper cell line authentication are now widely available.
“As has been pointed out recently, the techniques for proper cell line authentication are now widely available [55].”
From The ghosts of HeLa: How cell line misidentification contaminates the scientific literature (2017) · cites this paper as [55]
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- Authors
- Capes-Davis, A., & Neve, R. M.
- Affiliations
- Gilead Sciences (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Neve, Richard M.
- Venue
- PLOS Biology
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2016-06-14
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- e1002477
- ISSN
- 1544-9173 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-7885
- PMC
- PMC4907433
- OpenAlex
- W2422640027
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 10.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Gilead Sciences
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal testing and alternatives
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Research Data Management Practices
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
- Keywords
- cell line authentication, reproducibility, research integrity, standards, preclinical research, cell line misidentification, research resources
- MeSH terms
- Cell Line, Humans, Publications, Reference Standards, Reproducibility of Results, Microsatellite Repeats, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Gene Expression Profiling, Biomedical Research, Genotyping Techniques
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