we plan to investigate the influence of growth factors on the bloods' transcriptome. Instead of doing stimulation assays in cell culture my boss came up with the idea to directly stimulate whole blood samples ex vivo (as described for some cytokine assays). His argument is, that this is the only way to identify common rna-signatures influenced by growth factor stimulation.
While i do have my own opinion towards this assay I just want to collect pro's and con's for this procedure.
I highly appreciate your expert opinion.
Best,
D.
Edited by dude3005, 20 February 2013 - 11:45 PM.














