Address of the bookmark: https://arvados.org/

Before you go down that path, consider this critical biological question:
Are you sequencing human cells—or bacterial contamination?

The Silent Saboteur: Mycoplasma in Cell Cultures

Mycoplasma contamination remains one of the most widespread and underdiagnosed issues in tissue culture work. Studies suggest that 15–35% of cell lines in use may be contaminated, often without visible signs. Unlike other microbial infections, Mycoplasma does not produce cloudiness, odor, or a change in pH. Many researchers won’t detect it unless they specifically test for it.

The consequences, however, are profound. Mycoplasma can significantly alter:

• Host gene expression patterns

• Cell proliferation rates

• Epigenetic profiles and chromatin accessibility

• Cytokine signaling and immune responses

In short, it can skew your results, compromise your biological conclusions, and invalidate weeks or months of research.

A Simple Diagnostic Step: Map Against Mycoplasma Genomes

If you encounter poor alignment rates to the human genome, consider mapping your reads to a Mycoplasma reference genome—or better yet, use a combined human + Mycoplasma reference. There have been cases where over half of all reads, initially assumed to be from human cells, were in fact bacterial in origin. This check is fast, easy, and could save your project.

How Contamination Happens—and Persists

Mycoplasma is small (0.1–0.3 μm), lacks a cell wall, and can pass through standard filters undetected. Common sources include:

• Contaminated reagents (e.g., FBS)

• Infected cell lines obtained from other labs

• Poor aseptic technique or shared equipment

Once present, it spreads quickly between cultures and can persist for months, silently affecting results.

Why Treatment Is Difficult

While antibiotics such as Plasmocin or BM-Cyclin are sometimes used, they often offer only partial resolution and may themselves alter cell behavior. In many cases, the best course of action is to discard the contaminated culture and start with a fresh, verified stock.

Practical Recommendations for Researchers

• Routinely test for Mycoplasma using PCR, qPCR, or fluorescence-based assays

• Incorporate contamination screens into your sequencing QC pipeline

• Use combined reference genomes when mapping ambiguous reads

• Practice strict aseptic technique and monitor all incoming cell lines

• Don’t ignore unexplained data anomalies—they might point to contamination

Closing Thought: Contamination Is a Biological Variable

It’s easy to view poor mapping as a technical issue, but sometimes the problem lies deeper—in the biology itself. Mycoplasma contamination doesn’t just interfere with sequencing; it interferes with science. As a research community, we must treat contamination not as an afterthought, but as a key variable to control.

So next time your reads won’t align, don’t just tune the aligner. Ask if your cells are telling the truth—or if they're hiding something.

a) M.Sc/or equivalent in biological sciences/related areas [Position Code: PA_JRF_PF_a]
b) B.E/B.Tech/ M.Sc in biotechnology/bioinformatics/computer science/Chemistry/Physics or MCA [Position Code: PA_JRF_PF_b]
c) M.Sc/or equivalent in wildlife sciences/ecology/environmental sciences or MBBS/BVSc/MVSc. [Position Code: PA_JRF_PF_c]

(Candidates with result awaited are NOT eligible to apply)

Upper Age limit 28years

Rs.12000 / Rs.16000 (as sanctioned by the funding agency)

2. Post Doctoral Fellow/Research Associate in multiple research areas [PDF_RA]

Ph.D. (submitted/awarded) in any branch of biological Sciences. Candidates with Ph.D. in other sciences are also encouraged to apply.

Experience in molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, cell biology, infectious disease, conservation genetics, veterinary science, reproductive biology, and molecular diagnostics is desired but not mandatory.

[Position Code: PDF_RA]

UpperAge limit 35years

Rs. 22000- 26000 (as sanctioned by the funding agency)

3. Post Doctoral Scientist Fellow [PDSF]

Ph.D in any of the following areas: bioinformatics, next generation sequencing, high throughput data analysis, proteomics, bio-statistics, computer science, information technology, computer hardware and networking/clustering, parallel processing.
[Position Code: PDSF]

Upper Age limit 40 years

Rs. 40000 consolidated (as sanctioned by the funding agency)

Download Application: Last date for apply online: 09th Oct 2014

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Apply online http://www.ccmb.res.in/positions/temp_notif/online_form.html

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Source: Life technologies

Address of the bookmark: http://www.lifetechnologies.com/global/en/home/communities-social/blog/blogs/sequencing-solutions-to-world-health.html?cid=social_blogseries_20130829_11098264

ArrayGen specializes in Genomics data analysis and research, as we believe in the level of precision, predictability, benchmark-ability, and data analysis capability of genomics data over other forms of biological data. ArrayGen constantly strives to develop new solutions, and plug the existing gaps in the technological advancement of the field.

More http://www.arraygen.com/

Following are the weblink for different available browsers:

http://www.ensembl.org/index.html

http://ensemblgenomes.org/

http://genome.ucsc.edu/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome

http://www.ebi.ac.uk/genomes/

http://flybase.org/

http://cmr.jcvi.org/tigr-scripts/CMR/CmrHomePage.cgi

http://www.sanger.ac.uk/resources/databases/

Research topic: Protein function annotation, multiple probabilistic models, domain architecture, machine learning, combinatorial optimization, computer grid.

This project is run on the Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative UMR7238 CNRS-UPMC – Analytical Genomics team, headed by A.Carbone. It is co-advised with Pierre-Henri Wuillemin, Laboratoire d’Informatique de Paris 6 – Equipe DECISION.

The postdoc will be payed under a contract of Ingénieur de Recherche lasting 3.5 years and it is available from September 1st, 2014.

Group Web Page: http://www.lcqb.upmc.fr/AnalGenom/home.html

Ref. E-Mail: Alessandra Carbone alessandra.carbone@lip6.fr

A quick, $1 syphilis test in development by researchers from UNU-BIOLAC."

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130902101846.htm

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-09/tca-ssg082613.php

About JNIAS
Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies (JNIAS), Hyderabad has been established by Dr. D. Swaminadhan Research Foundation (DSRF), Hyderabad as a Research and Educational Institution with a view to contribute in developing advanced technologies and build „core competence‟ in specific areas. The activities of JNIAS involves: Education, Research Training and Innovations in the fields of Sciences, Technologies, Humanities and Social Sciences. It aims to blossom into an Advanced Institute of education and research with a reservoir of expertise and experience in the relevant fields and the necessary capability to harness multi-disciplinary research and studies. JNIAS has been recognized as an Advanced Research Institute by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH), Hyderabad and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Anantapur (JNTUA), for offering Ph.D., P.G M.Phil, P.G Diploma and Training Programmes in Sciences and Engineering & Technology.

Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU) Hyderabad also recognized JNIAS for offering UG, PG degree in Architecture.

Projects & Facilities

JNIAS offers wide range of projects:

Biotechnology area:

Molecular Biology
Microbiology
Nanotechnology
Bioinformatics (Schrodinger Software)
In Silico studies & Drug Designing
Sequence analysis
Protein structure function studies

Registration
Tuition Fees: Interested students need to pay the following tuition fees:
1. Six Month’s Project: Rs. 20,000/-
2. Four Month’s Project: Rs. 15,000/-
3. Three Month’s Project: Rs. 10,000/-
4. One Month - Hands on Training : Rs. 8,000/-

For enquires call:
91-7893203414 (Biotechnology), 91-9949582263 (Environmental Sciences) 91-8977369305 (Computer Science)

Interested student may download the application from the website (www.jnias.in) and send the hard copy of the completed application forms and Curriculum Vitae along with the Demand Draft drawn on any nationalized Banks in favor of “The Registrar, JNIAS, Secunderabad”. Application forms can be sent through email to academicprojects@jnias.in

Address
Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Studies (JNIAS)
6th Floor, Buddha Bhavan, M.G Road,
Secunderabad - 500 003
Andhra Pradesh, India
Tele/Fax: 040- 27541551; 27541553
Mobile: 08885541554
Web site: www.jnias.in

Brochure : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3zPwhgA-u-nU0dyMFd2OWcxNUpSTWNYc0xDSGs5UDI4UDNB/view?usp=sharing

Related Paper:

http://genomebiology.com/2014/15/3/R59/abstract

Address of the bookmark: http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10859