RNA, DNA, and Protein Isolation Services

Every molecular endpoint depends on the isolation step that preceded it, and no downstream method recovers information that was lost during extraction. Degraded RNA produces quantification that appears orderly and is meaningless. Protein lysate prepared without appropriate inhibitors loses the phosphorylation state the study was designed to measure. These failures are silent, because the assay still runs and still returns numbers.

Altogen Labs provides isolation of RNA, DNA, and protein from cultured cells, tumor tissue, and organs collected from in vivo studies, with method selected for the tissue type and the downstream application rather than applied uniformly. To discuss isolation for a specific tissue and endpoint, request a quote.

Method selection

Tissue type governs the approach. Fibrous tissue, fatty tissue, and tissue rich in endogenous nucleases each require different handling, and a protocol optimized for cultured cells will underperform on all three. Sample size is the second determinant, since methods that work well on abundant material frequently fail on the small quantities available from a biopsy or a satellite cohort.

The downstream application is the third. RNA destined for quantitative PCR has different requirements from RNA destined for other applications. Protein for phosphorylation analysis requires phosphatase inhibition from the moment of lysis, which cannot be applied retrospectively.

Where multiple analyte classes must come from the same limited sample, sequential extraction protocols recover RNA, DNA, and protein from a single piece of tissue rather than requiring it to be divided, which frequently determines whether a full endpoint panel is achievable from the material available.

Quality assessment

Yield and integrity are assessed before material is released into a downstream assay. Concentration and purity ratios establish whether contaminating protein or organic carryover will inhibit an enzymatic reaction. RNA integrity is assessed directly rather than inferred from concentration, since a degraded preparation can yield well and still be unusable.

Samples failing acceptance criteria are reported as such rather than carried forward quietly. A study is better served by knowing that three samples failed extraction than by receiving results from those samples that cannot be distinguished from valid ones.

Coordination with tissue collection

Isolation outcomes are largely determined before the sample reaches the laboratory. Necropsy and tissue collection is coordinated so that the preservation method matches the intended analyte: flash freezing for nucleic acid and protein, appropriate fixation for histology, and separate aliquots where a single tissue must support both. The collection sequence is defined before the study opens, since organs collected late in a necropsy have been at ambient temperature longer than those collected first.

Applied examples

Full panel from limited tissue. A small tumor from a satellite cohort is processed by sequential extraction to yield RNA, DNA, and protein, supporting transcript, genotype, and protein endpoints from material that would otherwise have supported only one.

Fibrous tissue. Pancreatic tumor tissue with high stromal content is processed with a method selected for that matrix, achieving RNA integrity adequate for quantitative PCR where a standard cell culture protocol would not.

Phosphoprotein preservation. Tumor tissue destined for phosphorylation analysis is collected into lysis buffer containing phosphatase inhibitors within a defined interval of excision, preserving the modification state the study was designed to measure.

Documentation and sample custody

Extraction method, input mass, yield, purity, and integrity metrics are recorded per sample and reported with the results, since these determine how much weight a downstream result can carry. Sample identity is tracked from collection through extraction to assay, and remaining material is stored under defined conditions and retained for a specified period so that a follow-up question can be answered without repeating the animal study.

Send tissue type, sample quantity, and intended downstream assays, or request a quote.