1. exRNA Metadata Standards
Donor
Sex, Age, Donor Type
Family
Submission
Submitter Name, , PI Name, PI , Organization, Funding source, Grant details
Pools
Sample
Biological Sample Elements: Species, Disease Type, Anatomical Location, Biofluid, Collection Method, Tube Type,
Type of Cell culture Supernatant, Cell Source, Tissue source, Tissue Type
Molecular Sample
Elements: exRNA Source, Fractionated?
Sample Name, Donor ID, Related Experiment
qPCR Targets
Biosample ID, Related Run, Target Name, Ct Value
Study
Title, Type, Abstract, Authors, Related Submission
Analysis
Type (small RNA-seq, qPCR), Genome Version, Number of mapped reads, Alignment software, version, Abundance measurement software, version, qPCR Analysis, Related Biosamples
Jobs
FTP Job ID,
Submission ID, Study ID, Biosample IDs, Analysis ID, Experiment ID, Run ID
Experiment
exRNA Source Isolation Protocol
Description, Cell Type marker, Serum used?, Serum type, Cell removal step done for cell culture supernatant and biofluid?
exRNA Sample Prep Protocol
Description,
Pre-purification of EV done?, RNA Isolation Kit, exRNA Quantification Method
Experiment Type
(mRNA, smRNA-seq)
Library Generation
Starting material Type, Library Construction Kit, Strand specificity, Reverse Transcription Kit, Primer Type, Amplified?, DNA Quantification method, smRNA Size selection method
Extracellular Vesicle Isolation Protocol: Description, Kits used for EV isolation
qPCR: Reverse Transcription, Oligos, Kits, Complete Reaction Conditions, Reaction Volume, Validation
Run
Experimental Design, Type (small RNA-seq, qPCR), Raw Data Files, Related Study, Related Biosamples
6 letter code for PI,
Submitter
First letter of First Name,
First 4 letters of Last Name + Number (from 1)
Example: KJENS1, KJENS2 & so on
Doc IDs:
EXR-KJENS SU
EXR-KJENS BS
EXR-KJENS BS
EXR-KJENS EX
PI Codes
PI Names, Submitter List, PI Code

2. Metadata Submission Guidelines
Submit 1 Submission document – UNIQUE for each Submitter-PI-Grant combination – REUSE for submissions from same user/PI/grant - Do NOT provide duplicates.
Submission
Submit 1 Study document with a unique title and overall description for a single research initiative – This describes “why” you sequenced your samples (similar to NCBI BioProject) – REUSE for all samples sequenced under a single study.
Study
Submit 1 Run document providing a list of data files that are part of the submission – UNIQUE for each FTP submission.
Run
Submit 1 or more Experiment document(s). Ensure Biosample is linked with the correct Experiment document ID. REUSE for experiments that followed exact same protocols.
Experiment
Submit one or more Donor document(s) for all Biosamples that are part of this submission – UNIQUE for each Donor – REUSE for samples from same donor - Do NOT provide duplicates.
Donor
Submit 1 Biosample document for each data file submitted. Ensure the correct Donor ID is provided in each Biosample document.
Biosample
Optionally submit 1 Analysis document – If not provided with submission, it will be generated and relevant fields along with Biosamples will be populated by the FTP submission pipeline – UNIQUE for each FTP submission.
Analysis
Submit 1 qPCR Target for each Biosample. Should contain Target Names and the corresponding Ct values.
qPCR Targets (only for qPCR Assays)