Scientific Writing & Communication Flashcards

A qPCR paper normalizes to a single reference gene, GAPDH, without testing whether its expression is stable. What does MIQE recommend instead?

Answer: Validating reference gene stability and using multiple validated reference genes when appropriate

MIQE asks authors to show that reference genes are stable under the experimental conditions, often with tools like geNorm or NormFinder.

Which RNA quality metric should be reported in a RT-qPCR methods section to show sample integrity?

Answer: RNA Integrity Number (RIN) or equivalent

MIQE recommends reporting RNA integrity, such as RIN or RQI, along with purity ratios.

How should a clinical PCR report express a qualitative result for a pathogen target that was not amplified?

Answer: "Not detected"

"Not detected" reflects the assay's detection limit without claiming the pathogen is truly absent.

In a Results section, which tense is conventionally used to describe what was observed in the experiment?

Answer: Past tense

Results describe specific completed experiments and are normally written in past tense.

A paper uses the abbreviation 'NTC' throughout. What is the correct practice?

Answer: Spell it out at first use in the text, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses

Abbreviations should be defined at first mention, for example 'no-template control (NTC)'.

Which guideline should be cited when reporting a digital PCR (dPCR) experiment?

Answer: dMIQE (Digital MIQE)

The dMIQE guidelines (2013) list the minimum information needed to report digital PCR experiments.

A table reports Cq values such as 24.387615. What is the best reporting practice?

Answer: Round to a sensible precision, such as two decimal places, matching instrument precision

Reporting digits beyond meaningful precision suggests false accuracy; Cq is usually reported to two decimal places.