NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – EMD Millipore, a division of Germany's Merck KGaA, announced this week that it has signed a deal to become the global distributor of Firefly BioWorks' SmartRNAplex microRNA profiling assay.
Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to EMD Millipore, the assay involves the hybridization of miRNA targets to probes attached to Firefly's proprietary hydrogel particles. A universal biotinylated adapter is then ligated to the captured targets, and a fluorescent reporter binds to the universal adapter. The reporter is used for miRNA detection in a flow cytometer.
"As microRNA-based research evolves from discovery to validation, robust, multiplex methods that can be performed easily at the bench are necessary to continue advancements in the field," Grace Johnston, marketing manager for EMD Millipore, said in a statement. "The SmartRNAplex assay is an important new tool for our customers who are elucidating the role of microRNAs in a broad range of human diseases and need to explore multiple targets across many samples."