September 1, 2014
RIKEN BioResource Center
RIKEN BioResource Center (BRC) has strived to offer bioresources of the highest quality with secured reproducibility. In spite of all our efforts, however, we happened to have unintentionally and regrettably distributed some resources with defects. This has caused great troubles to our valued users who have spent their precious time and resources on such materials. We expressed our sincere apology to the users involved and made the utmost effort to meet their needs. We would also like to apologize to all citizens as well as the research community for tremendous concerns and anxieties.
Every time our Center faced with such defects, we clarified what had caused the troubles, established measures to prevent a recurrence of incidents, and put the remedy into actions. Main causes of the present cases include: (1) There was no method to examine the materials properly when we distributed them, (2) The range of our tests was not sufficient to cover the materials fully, (3) Communication between the depositors and our staff was inadequate, and (4) Simple mistakes. From now on, we will make every effort not to let these happen again and never to distribute bioresources with any defects.
Nevertheless, no matter how hard we may try, it is extremely difficult to completely eliminate defects in our bioresources. As they are biological research materials, mutations, deviation, and contamination may occur during their proliferation or reproduction which can be undetectable with the limit of our methods. Therefore, we would like to ask all the users to confirm the quality and characteristics of our bioresources upon receiving them before starting your experiments using them. If there is any question or concern on possible defect, please let us know so that we can take required action. We greatly appreciate all your feedbacks that are necessary for improving the quality of our resources.
To all depositors, we would like to ask for providing us with most precise information to the top of your knowledge pertaining to your bioresource including relevant papers, its origin, characteristics, and detection methods for modified genes. It is not an exaggeration to say that the information from depositors determines the values of the resources.
Our Center has decided to take following actions with regards to quality examination and relevant information release in order to broadly announce our commitment.
1. We will review the test methods for each bioresource and adopt necessary methods in response to research trend and proceeding.
2. We will post the content of each test item of our bioresources on our official website.
3. We will publish test items and their results for each bioresource on our web catalog.
4. We will provide a bioresource to our users, together with a data sheet describing test items and their results when we distribute it.
5. If any quality defect is found in our resources, we will inform our users promptly and do everything to minimize the impact.
6. We will announce the bioresource with a quality defect through our website.
We will dedicate ourselves to providing bioresources of the highest level, in hope of making the BRC the most reliable infrastructure for life sciences in order to contribute to the development of science, technology, and innovation. Our Center is built upon the understanding and guidance by research community, and we hope that we may rely on continued support by all citizens as well as the research community into the future.