This blog is written by guest blogger, Dr Rajnish Bharti, General Manager of Promega Biotech India Pvt Ltd.
As COVID-19 cases accelerate, the country of India has decided to scale up testing capacity to 100,000 tests per day in the coming days.
In a major step to counter the coronavirus crisis, Promega India is supporting government agencies throughour automated instruments. The Maxwell® RSC instrument is a compact, automated RNA extraction platform that processes up to 48 samples simultaneously in less than 35 minutes. The automated Promega solution allows laboratories to process up to 400 samples in a typical 8-hour shift.
Traditionally, scientists have relied on flat,
two-dimensional cell cultures grown on substrates such as tissue culture
polystyrene (TCPS) to study cellular physiology. These models are simple and
cost-effective to culture and process. Within the last decade, however, three-dimensional
(3D) cell cultures have become increasingly popular because they are more
physiologically relevant and better represent in vivo conditions.
Ever think about the kinds of challenges R&D scientists run up against in the course of developing a new product? The development of the Maxwell® RSC ccfDNA (circulating cell-free DNA) Plasma Kit is a particularly interesting example. Its path to commercialization was characterized by a number of unexpected technical hurdles, yet each was overcome through creative troubleshooting and aided by valuable collaborations across departments. All had a hand in finally launching the kit last August.
The product’s launch was an exciting milestone for Promega as research interest in the role of ccfDNA as biomarkers in human disease continues to grow. Elevated levels of ccfDNA have now been reported in patients with cancer, inflammatory disease, infections and cardiovascular disease. In pregnant women, up to 10% of ccfDNA can be attributed to the fetus, so critical fetal DNA analysis can now be conducted through maternal blood samples. There are many advantages in the ability to isolate and analyze ccfDNA, so the development of a kit with high throughput capability was a priority for the Nucleic Acid Purification R&D team. Continue reading “The Making of a Promega Product: Teamwork = Success for the Maxwell RSC® ccfDNA Plasma Kit”
Wish I had one of these when I was at the lab bench…
Back in the dark ages, when I was a graduate student, my idea of “automated” plasmid DNA extraction involved performing home-brew, “toothpick preps” in “strip tubes” or , if I was really feeling ambitious, a 96-well plate. I would get just enough DNA to check for the presence of an insert, but the quality of the DNA was too low and the quantity too small to even consider using it for any other downstream experiments like amplification. And increased throughput for other nucleic acid extraction needs? Nope. If I wanted genomic DNA, RNA or high-quality plasmid DNA, I spent time with columns and tubes, giving each sample my undivided individual attention. Remember cesium chloride preps for RNA isolation? Even with the advent of column purification, which greatly simplified and standardized my protocols, nucleic acid purification was still a manual task that required a lot of time and effort to get the high-quality product I needed. Doing the experiments that would answer the questions that I really wanted to ask (those “downstream experiments”), meant spending time at the bench performing careful (if tedious) work to isolate and clean up the highest quality nucleic acid possible. Even then inconsistency in sample prep could wreak havoc on downstream work. Fortunately, for the modern scientist, personal, bench top automation, has progressed far beyond the toothpick and the strip tube to quality-tested, reliable nucleic acid extraction platforms like the Maxwell® Rapid Sample Concentrator (RSC). The Maxwell® RSC improves sample preparation consistency, eliminating variability associated with manual handling, and your downstream results will reflect this consistency. With the RSC you can extract DNA or RNA from up to 16 samples in approximately 1 hour and viral total nucleic acids in less than an hour. The instrument is easy to use: simply load the sample, push a button and walk away. Cross contamination is minimized and the instrument is supported by the Promega technical support and service you have come to trust over the past 35 years. Do you want to know more about how the Maxwell® RSC can become your research partner, giving you the freedom to focus on the work that interests you the most? Register for the free webinar and see the data for yourself: high-quality nucleic acid that performs well in downstream analyses. You’ll even be able to view videos illustrating RSC setup and use. Register today for the free webinar.
The product’s launch was an exciting milestone for Promega as research interest in the role of ccfDNA as biomarkers in human disease continues to grow. Elevated levels of ccfDNA have now been reported in patients with cancer, inflammatory disease, infections and cardiovascular disease. In pregnant women, up to 10% of ccfDNA can be attributed to the fetus, so critical fetal DNA analysis can now be conducted through maternal blood samples. There are many advantages in the ability to isolate and analyze ccfDNA, so the development of a kit with high throughput capability was a priority for the Nucleic Acid Purification R&D team. 