Fluidigm Helios
Fluidigm has launched its Helios mass cytometry platform, which it said enables system-level biology at single-cell resolution. In conjunction with the Helios launch, Fluidigm has introduced a proteomics sample barcoding reagent kit that barcodes up to 20 samples, enabling them to be combined, stained and acquired as one multiplexed sample. The firm said it will begin shipment of the new system in the third quarter.
Novacyt Molecular HPV Testing Service
Novacyt has launched a molecular human papillomavirus service for all of its customers currently using its next-generation NOVAprep liquid-based cytology platform for cervical cancer screening.
Novacyt will offer the new service out of its Cambridge, UK labs using Abbott's RealTime High-Risk HPV PCR assay, and customers will be able to use the same NOVAprep consumable vial and medium for both Novacyt's cytology platform and Abbott's assay. Novacyt has validated the use of the Abbott PCR assay with the NOVAprep cytology medium in cervical cancer screening for additional HPV reflex testing. HPV testing provides important information about whether a patient has an HPV infection with any of the 14 high-risk HPV types, and this information, along with the result of the Pap smear, can be useful in managing patients with inconclusive results, the company noted.
Fluidigm Callisto Cell-Culture System
Fluidigm has launched the Callisto system, a fully automated and programmable microfluidic cell culture system that integrates multifactorial dosing in 32 individual chambers for simultaneous cell culture. The system consists of an automated instrument, specialized integrated fluidic circuit, reagent kit, and software suite. With minimal intervention, the platform enables scientists to easily and precisely manipulate the biological pathways that regulate cellular activity and fate decisions while monitoring their viability and phenotypic effects over the course of each study, Fluidigm said. By running automated scripts in a nanoliter-scale reaction size, each experiment can be executed with higher efficiency and drastically reduced labor and heterogeneity compared to manual, plate-based studies, the company added.
Rubicon Genomics ThruPLEX Plasma-Seq Kit
Rubicon Genomics has opened an early-access program for its ThruPLEX Plasma-seq kit for the preparation of DNA libraries to analyze cell-free DNA found in plasma and other biofluids. The new kit is designed for Illumina next-generation sequencing platforms and has been evaluated by researchers at the Karolinska Institute and Cancer Research UK.
ThruPLEX Plasma-seq has a simple and fast workflow, requiring only three steps in a single tube and two hours of time, with no purification or sample transfers, and yields highly reproducible NGS libraries from less than 1 nanogram and up to 30 nanograms of cell-free DNA in plasma. The optimized repair and ligation chemistries and a modified protocol provide higher library diversity at low input amounts and broad and consistent GC coverage, Rubicon said. The kit is intended for use with plasma samples for applications including analysis of circulating tumor DNA using whole-genome, whole-exome, and targeted gene sequencing, as well as for non-invasive prenatal testing.
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