Technician’s best friend – solving the dog epigenome to advance oncology

Researchers in the Cho Lab at Seoul National University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, are using the VACUSAFE safe aspiration system and VACUSIP portable aspiration system from INTEGRA Biosciences to help them culture organoids from cancer-stricken domesticated dogs as part of a comparative medicine research initiative. Collaborating closely with the university’s veterinary practitioners, researchers aim to expand the number of canine NGS datasets, in a bid to advance our understanding of the biological progression of tumors in both human and dog oncology.

Borris D. Aldonza, facility manager for the lab, commented: “We perform daily microvolume aspirations of organoid cultures, working with many diverse samples from the university’s veterinary hospital. The compact VACUSAFE and VACUSIP systems provide us with a finely controlled aspiration technique that enables accurate work in our NGS workflows. The VACUBOY vacuum hand operator on the VACUSAFE features a finger-activated valve that precisely regulates vacuum flow, enabling sensitive fingertip control and markedly improving accuracy when aspirating microvolumes. INTEGRA’s VACUSAFE also has multiple vacuum intensity settings that allow us to control the amount of suction force, which is ideal for the delicate handling of precious samples such as organoids. The VACUSIP is perfect for daily microvolume aspiration tasks, as it allows us to aspirate any remaining liquid from the samples – which is simply unachievable by manual pipetting – and saves us a lot of time for our microplate- and PCR plate-based samples.”

Borris continued: “We are very satisfied with the VACUSAFE and VACUSIP and we’re looking forward to continuing our relationship with INTEGRA in the future. The company’s products have helped us to achieve great feats so far – including our successful publication of the first reference epigenome of the domesticated dog – and we plan to keep moving the field of comparative oncology forwards using such robust, reliable equipment.”

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About INTEGRA Biosciences

INTEGRA Biosciences is a leading provider of high-quality laboratory tools and consumables for liquid handling and media preparation. The company is committed to creating innovative solutions which fulfil the needs of its customers in research, diagnostics and quality control within the life sciences markets and medical sector. Today, INTEGRA innovative laboratory products are widely used all around the world. More than 100 distribution partners form a worldwide sales network providing responsive and competent services to customers. These distribution partners are supported by a highly motivated and experienced team of specialists at the company headquarters in Zizers, Switzerland and Hudson, NH, USA. INTEGRA is an ISO 9001 certified company.

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