Prove your cell lines are what you say they are, or the paper is not published
A large share of cancer research has been done on cells that were mislabelled or contaminated. A cheap DNA fingerprint test can prove identity; journals and funders should require it.
Cross-contaminated and misidentified cell lines (the ICLAC register lists over 500) continue to be used in thousands of papers. Short tandem repeat profiling costs under a hundred dollars per line. Some journals and NIH recommend authentication; few enforce it. A mandate that every paper and grant using cell lines deposits a recent STR profile matched to Cellosaurus, with funders covering the cost, would close a known, fixable source of irreproducibility.
- Preclinical results do not reproduce · Fewer than half of landmark cancer biology findings reproduce when someone else tries.
- Preclinical models that do not predict people · Nine in ten cancer drugs that work in mice fail in humans. Our models are the reason.
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not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaBarcode every reagent lot so batch effects can be traced across experiments and labs
Shares A digital passport for every cell culture: identity, contamination status, passage number, Preclinical results do not reproduce.
- IdeaEvery drug screen includes standard reference compounds whose performance is published
Shares A digital passport for every cell culture: identity, contamination status, passage number, Preclinical results do not reproduce, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaProve the cell line is what you say it is, or the paper does not run
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaShared reference organoid and PDX panels that every lab can test against
Shares Cancer Models (PDCM Finder) & HCMI, Preclinical results do not reproduce, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaA home for the animal and organoid experiments that failed
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaPre-register animal efficacy studies like clinical trials
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- InstitutionThe Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Preclinical models that do not predict people.
- IdeaPre-specified sample sizes for animal studies; no more 'representative' experiments
Shares Preclinical results do not reproduce, Preclinical models that do not predict people.