DNA and RNA quality control service

What we measure

Three quantities, each with the instrument that measures it properly:

• Concentration by fluorometry (Qubit), which reads only the nucleic acid you asked about.
• Purity, through the 260/280 and 260/230 ratios, with 1.8 to 2.1 as the usual target on DNA.
• Integrity, by Bioanalyzer or TapeStation electrophoresis, scored as RIN for RNA and DIN for DNA.

Why a separate measurement is worth buying

A spectrophotometer reads everything that absorbs at 260 nm, including free nucleotides and residual contaminants. It therefore over-reads, often by a factor of two. A fluorometer binds the target and ignores the rest.

That gap is why our sample requirement tables say to increase concentrations by roughly 2× when you measured on a Nanodrop. Getting the real figure before a cohort goes to library preparation costs a fraction of the run it protects.

When it makes sense on its own

Four situations come up regularly:

• Before committing a whole cohort to sequencing, in-house or elsewhere.
• After long storage, when integrity may have drifted.
• After a failed or disappointing run, to establish whether the input was the cause.
• When a collaborator or a reviewer wants a documented, independent measurement.

The report

A documented QC report accompanies every batch, written to be audit-ready. The same report ships with every OMICS4 deliverable, so a project that starts here and continues on another platform keeps one continuous record. Input requirements are on the DNA and RNA pages.