Once extracted, RNA concentration and purity was first verified by UV measurement, using the Ultrospec3100 pro (Amersham Biosciences, USA) and 5 mm cuvettes. The absorbance (A) spectra were measured from 200 to 340 nm. A 230 , A 260 and A 280 were determined. A 260 :A 280 and A 260 :A 230 ratios were calculated. For microcapillary electrophoresis measurements, the Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies, USA) was used in conjunction with the RNA 6000 Nano and the RNA 6000 Pico LabChip kits. In total, 39 assays were run in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions (see Supplementary Notes online). To evaluate the reliability of the classifier systems described in this study, replicate runs were done on a set of 56 RNA samples loaded on different chips, resulting in 2 (N = 41), 3 (N = 12), 7 (N = 2) and 50 (N = 1) data points per sample.