Coriell Institute prides itself on providing high-quality custom research services in genotyping, cell culture, molecular biology, cytogenomics, and biobanking. Moreover, Coriell takes a collaborative approach to executing these services, and purposefully designed its laboratories and organizational structure to promote dialogue among departments and scientists. A recent project showcases the utility of our expertise and approach.

Agilent, a leader in bio-analytical measurement, recently presented Coriell with a challenging DNA extraction project: Challenging because it required Coriell to extract a volume 200 times Coriell's average yield of DNA per cell culture process within a greatly shortened turnaround time. Coriell had to significantly scale up its cell culture and molecular biology operations while working in concert to produce a final product representative of Coriell's high-quality standards.

As part of the proposal submitted to Agilent, Steven Madore, PhD, Director of Biobanking and Christine Beiswanger, PhD, Director of Coriell Custom Services, crafted a novel DNA extraction protocol to grow cell lines in sufficient quantities to produce the large volume of DNA needed to satisfy Agilent's requirements. The cell culture and molecular biology teams – Donna Altamuro, Susan Jones, Kelly Hodges, and Stacy Heil – conducted studies to test the scaled-up procedure. The new protocols were successful, measured by the quality of the resulting large quantities of DNA exceeding Coriell's strict criteria. As such, Coriell was able to move forward with the Agilent contract.

By November 1st, well ahead of schedule, Coriell delivered the full contract to Agilent. Dr. Madore said of the project, "The Agilent request was a great example of Coriell's ability to bring together our combined expertise in cell culture and molecular biology and quickly expand our processes to answer a critical customer need without compromising our renowned quality." Dr. Beiswanger added, "As biomedical research expands in scope and complexity, Coriell remains a leader by being nimble in operation and open to new challenges."