Bio-Rad this week launched its Precision Blue real-time PCR dye.
Designed to make it easier for researchers to set up qPCR experiments, the blue dye improves the visibility of qPCR reaction mixtures, enabling loading of small-volume reactions with greater speed, accuracy, and precision, Bio-Rad said.
Applications such as SNP genotyping and high-throughput gene expression analysis using 384-well plates will particularly benefit from use of this dye, the company noted.
Precision Blue is compatible with Bio-Rad's universal qPCR supermixes, including iTaq and SsoAdvanced, and does not interfere with SYBR Green- or probe-based detection. The dye can be used with all Bio-Rad CFX real-time PCR systems, as well as other vendors' real-time PCR systems.
Precision Blue can be added directly to supermix or used as a component of a reaction master mix. The dye is concentrated 200x, and delivers 500 20-µl reactions.
Promega has launched the Maxwell 16 LEV RNA FFPE kit for RNA isolation from mammalian formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples.
The new kit is designed to rapidly and consistently extract pure, high-yield RNA from thin sections of FFPE tissue samples using the automated Maxwell 16 instrument. The purified RNA is suitable for downstream applications including RT-PCR, RT-qPCR, endpoint RT-PCR, cDNA library synthesis, and gene expression analysis.
The system is specifically designed to purify RNA from 5-µm sections of FFPE samples, and can extract from 16 samples in a single run. Lysates are placed directly into the cartridges, and RNA is ready for amplification in approximately 60 minutes (after proteinase K digest). The kit does not use organic solvents such as xylene, thereby providing a much safer method than other available kits, and quality testing has shown virtually no PCR inhibitor contaminants are in purified samples.