Specimen Requirements
Preparation of Mononuclear Cells using CPT™ tubes:
Expression Analysis recommends using BD Vacutainer® CPT™ Cell Preparation Tubes (Becton, Dickinson and Company) for the separation of mononuclear cells from whole blood. For best results, we recommend the following procedure:
- Blood collection should be performed by a licensed medical professional following the protocols provided by the manufacturer.
- Centrifugation should immediately follow collection utilizing the manufacturer’s protocol.
- Immediately after centrifugation, the mononuclear cell layer (buffy coat) should be aspirated according to manufacturer’s protocol, and transferred to a sterile 15 ml conical centrifuge tube.
- Cells should be washed immediately in PBS according to manufacturer’s protocol.
- Cells should be counted with an appropriate method, and recorded on the Expression Analysis Specimen Submission form.
- Immediately following washing pellet cells and aspirate as much supernatant as possible without disturbing the cell pellet.
- Snap freeze cell pellet, and store at -80°C.
- See Shipping Specimens section for shipping instructions.
Preparation of Whole Blood in PAXgene™ or Tempus™ tubes:
Expression Analysis recommends using either PAXgene™ (PreAnalytiX) or Tempus™ (Applied Biosystems) Blood RNA tubes to stabilize whole blood for shipment to Expression Analysis for RNA isolation and globin reduction. For best results, we recommend the following procedure:
- Blood collection should be performed by a licensed medical professional following the protocols provided by the manufacturer.
- Immediately after collection, specimens should be mixed well according to the manufacturer’s recommendation and incubated for 2 hours at room temperature.
- Transfer to -80ºC prior to shipping.
- See Shipping Specimens section for shipping instructions.