Agilent Technologies this week introduced its SurePrint G3 CGH+SNP cancer catalog microarrays. The firm claims the new chips "address the growing need of researchers to detect both copy number and copy-neutral aberrations in cancer tissue samples in the same experiment."
Agilent's microarrays are based on designs by the Cancer Cytogenomics Microarray Consortium. The release is accompanied by the launch of Agilent's CytoGenomics 2.0 software, which now includes support for CGH+SNP analysis of genetically complex samples such as hematological cancer samples.
AMS Biotechnology recently launched its ExpressArt FFPE Clear RNAready kit. The firm claims the kit offers "unique lysis and incubation conditions for optimal RNA recovery and improved template activity."
AMS' kit relies on its FFPE Clear reagent to eliminate the standard paraffin removal step in sample preparation. Following homogenization, the lysis buffer is supplemented with a nucleic acid analogue that acts as an inhibitor of RNases and displaces tightly bound RNA from high-molecular-weight aggregates, the firm said. Additionally, a de-modification step is conducted to reverse formalin-induced cross-links and enable the purified RNA to act as a template in reverse transcription reactions and downstream assays.
Affymetrix last week launched 18 new array designs for whole-transcriptome analysis of model organisms and for applied research. The new Gene 1.1 ST Array Strips run on the firm's automated, benchtop GeneAtlas System.
Arrays are available for Arabidopsis, bovine, canine, chicken, cynomolgous and rhesus monkeys, equine, feline, marmoset, Medicago, ovine, porcine, rice, soybean, zebra finch, and zebrafish researchers. There are multiple arrays available for some organisms, including three arrays each focused on a different variety of rice.