FFPE RNA quality assessment with the Agilent Bioanalyzer and Fragment Analyzer systems

Formalin-fixation and paraffin-embedding (FFPE) of tissues have long been a cornerstone in pathology for preserving specimens. Chemical modifications that occur during formalin fixation lead to RNA degradation and fragmentation, posing a considerable hurdle for researchers aiming to retrieve high-quality RNA from FFPE samples. Using a quality control system to check RNA integrity after extraction from FFPE samples helps determine if the sample is of sufficient quality for downstream applications such as sequencing.

Explore the capabilities of both the Agilent Bioanalyzer and Fragment Analyzer systems in analyzing FFPE RNA samples using the DV₂₀₀ score. The DV₂₀₀ quality metric helps researchers classify degraded FFPE RNA samples by size, determining which are suitable for next-generation sequencing and which are not, saving time and costs. The results provide a comparison between the DV₂₀₀ scores from each system.