Sample Prep  |  RNeasy Kit

Recovering RNA from miniscule samples

Dr. Louisa Jeffery relies on QIAGEN’s RNeasy Kit to purify quality RNA from colonic biopsies gaining insights to combat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

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Over the past few years, researchers have learned much more about the issues underlying the autoimmune condition characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. But while a variety of genetic contributors have been identified in relation to the two most common IBD conditions, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, a successful treatment remains elusive. The challenge is to identify the proper intervention the first time around, as both conditions are complex and multifactorial in nature.

Dr. Louisa Jeffery is performing transcriptomic comparisons of colonic biopsies from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who are undergoing various biological therapies to better understand what factors, genetic and environmental, contribute to IBD. “We are also studying transcriptomic changes in immune and stromal cell populations and cell lines in response to cytokine, therapeutic, and environmental factors in vitro,” Jeffery says. The results of these studies could provide insights into the mechanisms for the initiation and progression of IBD, as well as biomarkers regarding a patient’s response to specific therapies so they do not have to resort to a trial-and-error approach to treatment.

Successful RNA recovery from miniscule samples
Dr. Louisa Jeffery is a researcher at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy. There, her research uses transcriptomics to better understand the underlying nature of common autoimmune disorders and determine what sorts of interventions would best treat them.
I have recently used the QIAGEN RNeasy Kits to isolate RNA from 96 tissue biopsies and I was especially impressed by their ease of use.
Dr. Louisa Jeffery, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham

Sufficient RNA from a low number of cells

To do this work, Jeffery relies on QIAGEN’s RNeasy Kit to help purify quality RNA from colonic biopsies. A consistent problem has been the ability to recover sufficient RNA for her research from a low number of cells, she says. The simple workflow with gDNA eliminator columns allows her to get high-quality RNA output suitable for qPCR- and RNA-sequencing studies.

“When I used the QIAGEN RNeasy Kits to isolate RNA from 96 tissue biopsies, followed by the QIAseq UPX 3’ Transcriptome Kit to assess their mRNA transcriptomes, I was especially impressed by the simplicity of the latter, which, following an initial unique tagging of each sample at the reverse transcription stage, the samples were combined into one or more library preps that were easily handled,” Jeffery says. She also credits the QIAGEN GeneGlobe free-access software with her ability to rapidly analyze the data for the insights she seeks: “The QIAGEN workflow yields samples that meet quality control standards for purity and concentration. It makes the handling of multiple samples much simpler.”

RNEasy Kit
RNeasy Kit allows researchers to quickly – yet accurately and cost-effectively – purify high-quality RNA from small samples of cells. The resulting yields of RNA can then be used in a number of downstream applications to answer a variety of different research questions.
The QIAGEN workflow yields samples that meet QC standards of purity and concentration and makes the handling of multiple samples simpler.
Dr. Louisa Jeffery, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham
As her lab is not working with an automatic setup, the ease and simplicity of the process is ideal. To prepare 96 separate library preps would be incredibly time consuming, Jeffery notes – and relying on technician assistance would have exceeded the project’s budget. “The alternative would have been to use qPCR arrays, which would have been expensive and time consuming,” she says. “And to be financially viable, we would have been limited to very few target transcripts. That would have greatly compromised our chance of identifying factors that separate our samples – and discover new pathways of pathology in IBD.”

January 2020

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