Thermo Fisher Scientific this week announced the release of the QuantStudio 3D Rare Mutation Analysis solution.
The new offering is a panel of wet-lab validated TaqMan SNP genotyping assays and an enhanced software tool that enables researchers to detect and quantify 40 of the most common mutations in cancer genes, including EGFR, BRAF, KRAS, PIK3CA, and JAK2, at a prevalence as low as 0.1 percent.
The primary and secondary software enhancements are also designed with specific features for analysis of low-frequency alleles on the QuantStudio 3D Digital PCR system.
"Our laboratory is investigating methods to quantify the presence of mutations in cancer-related genes in circulating free DNA," Atocha Romero, a researcher in the Molecular Oncology Laboratory of Hospital Clinico San Carlos in Madrid, Spain, said in a statement. "We have tested the PIK3CA H1047R Custom TaqMan SNP Genotyping Assay on the QuantStudio 3D Digital PCR System, and we have observed that the sensitivity we can achieve with this assay is far superior than with other approaches. This assay meets all of our requirements for quantifying low-frequency mutations in circulating-free DNA."
The QuantStudio 3D system and new assays are for research use only.