Turning complex biological data into results you can stand behind.

Just tell us upfront — most academic clients pay via a lab purchase order or invoice rather than a personal card. We'll confirm your institution's process before quoting, and issue a formal invoice that fits it. If your university's PO process takes a few weeks, we'll plan the timeline around that rather than assuming a same-week start.

Yes. QC and preprocessing are part of the Analysis Starter Package, not a prerequisite for it. Send the data as it exists — raw, messy, partially labeled — and the cleanup happens as step one, not something you need to solve before reaching out.

Yes, happily, especially for unpublished data or pre-patent work. It's normal to ask, and we'll sign before any dataset changes hands if you'd like one in place.

Most commonly RNA-seq and other NGS data (FASTQ, BAM, count matrices), along with standard tabular formats (CSV, TSV, Excel) for other omics or experimental data. If you're not sure your format is supported, ask — it's a five-minute answer either way.

Yes. Every project can be delivered as a written report, a reproducible notebook containing the actual code, outputs, and Explanatory notes, or both — whichever is more useful for how you plan to use the results. Just mention your preference when we scope the project.

No — Cortessa is a personal service, not a hosted product. Tools are used internally to deliver analysis and writing faster and more clearly, but there's no software you log into and no data sitting on a shared platform. Your files stay with you and with the person actually doing the work.

That happens, and it's not a failure — it's often the actual finding. The written summary will say so plainly, and one round of clarifying revisions is included if you need the analysis extended or re-framed around a follow-up question.

No — this is a paid service, not a collaboration seeking authorship. If your contribution standards call for acknowledgment given the scope of analytical work involved, that's entirely your call to make.

Yes — all work is remote, and most communication happens over email or a short call. Time zones are rarely an issue given the project turnaround is measured in days, not hours.

Then you'll be told that directly, ideally before any money changes hands. Generic web design, marketing work, and open-ended consulting are explicitly outside scope — see the section above — and it's more useful to say so early than to take on a project outside real expertise.