The Catholic University of America
Department of Biology
Washington, DC 20064
March 2008
Dear Colleague,
I am writing to you to solicit your support for a project that will serve to accelerate theelimination of a major blemish from the landscape of science. As scientists learn about theunderlying facts their reactions change from disbelief to outrage, characterizing the current
situation as scandalous, embarrassing, corrupting, and extremely wasteful. The blemish is thatmany of the cell lines used for biomedical research are misidentified and/or cross-contaminatedby cells from other cell lines. Hence, much published research using cell lines, perhaps as muchas 20%, is tainted, ---is false,--- is misleading. This has been known since 1966 and it has been
allowed to continue unabated .
I am writing to you and many other scientists because all scientists share the responsibility toserve as guardians of the integrity of scientific research. Also, I am writing with confidence
because what I will ask of you, though not burdensome, will be important and rewarding.
An ad hoc group of concerned scientists has been involved for three years in an initiative to seeka resolution of the problem of cross-contamination and misidentification of cell lines. It has
made considerable progress despite the absence of appropriate leadership from professionalsocieties, scientific journals, and providers of research grants. With a widely distributed Call for
Action white paper serving to sound the alarm and document the nature and magnitude of theproblem, support was obtained from 4 professional societies, 5 major cell repositories, the HHS
Office of Research Integrity and individuals throughout the world. Subsequently, our initiative
was featured in Science magazine ( Chatterjee,R. 2007. Cases of Mistaken Identity. 315:928931.) and in a BBC Radio investigative documentary. An expert panel was convened to plan thenext step in our quest for a profession-wide consensus on authentication. The panel then sent anopen letter to Secretary of HHS Michael Leavitt, who referred the matter to the Director of NIH,
Dr. Elias Zerhouni, for resolution. In a letter to me, Dr. Zerhouni encouraged continuance ofmy initiative. Notice NOT-OD-08-017, issued on November 28,2007,is an addition to the NIH
Guidelines for Research. It acknowledges the validity of my concerns and calls for diligence inthe characterization of cell lines. It also calls on the peer review process for grants andpublications to help rectify the problem. The Zerhouni letter and the Guidelines addition areimportant advances. They “certified” the legitimacy of the numerous calls for resolution byresearchers at home and abroad over a span of forty-five years! The action on the part of theNIH also showed that progress can be made if accompanied by proper doses of education thatlead to heightened awareness.
Much of my three year odyssey has been devoted to seeking an understanding of the factors that
contributed to the persistence of the scandalous situation. Several that I have identified include
denial (it could not happen in my lab), disbelief (wouldn’t there have been intervention andcorrection if there was a serious problem; isn’t science self-correcting?), ostrich transformation(as long as I keep my head in the sand I will not get upset or have to examine my operation or
have to confront my less- than-diligent colleagues), a sense of hopelessness (methods forauthentication are difficult or expensive or not sufficiently sensitive or because of its size and somany shared responsibilities it is unmanageable), and a lack of in-depth awareness on the partof many researchers who adopted cell cultures as a valuable tool but are insufficiently prepared
regarding quality control and the history of cross-contamination and misidentification.
Rebuttals and corrections exist for each of these factors. What is needed to correct the situation
is sustained education that will lead to heightened awareness and to correction. Finally, we havearrived at the place where you can get involved, even if you are not a cell culture user. The ad
hoc group of concerned scientists plans to have at least one cell line authentication activity held
during April-May in as many universities, research institutes, and companies throughout theworld. This is part of a sustained global education effort that will lead to heightened awarenessand facilitation of correction of a problem that has persisted too long. Without heightenedawareness made possible through education, realistic hope for a lasting solution gets diminished.
We hope that you and many other scientists, regardless of specialty, will volunteer to serve as ahost for a one- hour activity (webcast, lecture, seminar, discussion session or teach-in) to be held
at your institution. As host, your responsibility will be to select the kind of activity you chose tohost, select a day and time, secure a meeting place, and enthusiastically publicize the program byemail and/or flyer. The kind of activity and level of sophistication of the program should bedictated by the availability of experts and designed to accommodate the background of thetarget audience. A website (http://cellid.cua.edu/) will be fully operational within 10 days. It willserve to provide support of the host in order to ensure the best program possible and tominimize the burden to be carried. Hosts who are not well grounded regarding cell line
identification and authentication, as well as many other hosts, may prefer to select a webcast for
presentation in lieu of searching for a speaker.. The webcasts will be narrated power points
prepared by experts; they will be available for viewing 24/7 throughout the month. The host
could introduce the webcast to a group by reading an introduction we can provide or one
prepared by the host. Hosts in an institution harboring experienced cell culture workers may
chose to concentrate on methods for authentication, or causes and prevention, etc. Or what canbe more exciting than a well- moderated round table discussion of the different responsibilities
of various components of the cell culture scene, such as grant agencies, peer reviewers, policy
makers, editors, lab chiefs, technicians, professional societies, and whistle blowers? Other
support material accessible from our website will include bibliographies, focused references, listsof misidentified cultures, sources of authenticated cell lines and services, history, ethicalimplications, and cell banking, The broad spectrum of webcasts and other materials will makeit possible for individuals to fashion a tutorial for their personal use and files. However,advantages stemming from the interaction of members of a group suggests that the host should
try to sponsor a program for a group whenever feasible.
I hope that you will accept this invitation to be a host for your institution and in that way
contribute to the restoration of scientific rigor to the use of a very important research tool.

Sincerely,Roland M. Nardone
Professor Emeritus/Biology
Catholic University of America
Washington, DC 20064

nardone@cua.edu
202-319-5275
http://cellid.cua.edu/