Guide to Human Cell Line Authentication

This document was written to set out the essential steps for authenticating human cell lines.

The Guide focuses on short tandem repeat (STR) profiling, as a widely used and accepted authentication method.  The Guide includes sections on:

• Preparing starting material for STR profiling
• Generating STR profiles
• Points to be aware of when comparing cell line samples
• Using an STR profile database
• What to do with misidentified cell lines.

You might like to read more about authenticating cell lines.  See our reference pages for authenticating human cell lines and non-human cell lines.