Thermogravimetric Analysis: Samples were resuspended in 100 µL of ethanol and sonicated to ensure most of the sample was removed from the tube. The suspended sample was added to a crucible and run using a Perkin Elmer TGA 4000 under a Nitrogen atmosphere. Samples were heated to 50˚ C and held at 50˚ C for 30 min to remove solvent. The sample was then ramp scanned from 50˚ C to 800˚ C at 10˚ C/ min. RNA Molecular Probing: Quantifluor dye was diluted in 1x PBS 1:400 and 180 µL were aliquoted on a 96-well plate. Samples were resuspended in 5 µL ethanol and sonicated. Samples were treated accordingly: EDTA treated: 5 µL of 100 mM EDTA + 95 µL PBS, Heparin treated: 5 µL of heparin (25 mg mL -1 ) + 95 µL PBS, and Dual treated: 5 µL of EDTA + 5 µL heparin + 90 µL PBS. Any samples treated with heparin were heated at 60 ˚C for 10 min. After EDTA/heparin treatment, 20 µL were collected as the suspension samples, then the rest of the sample was centrifuged at 16,100 x g for 5 min. 20 µL of the supernatant was collected. 20 µL of the sample was added to a well with 180 µL of Quantifluor dye solution, mixed well, and incubated on a shaker for 5 min. Resultant fluorescence was evaluated with a plate reader (SpectraMax i3) using 492 nm excitation and 540 nm emission.