ZeptoMetrix NATSARS(CoV-2) Quality Controls

Akoya Biosciences this week launched the Proxima Spatial Biology Platform to integrate rapid image acquisition and secure data sharing in the cloud. The new software is designed to allow users to visualize and analyze whole-slide, multiplexed immunofluorescence images generated by Akoya's Phenoptics platform, and will soon be expanded to visualize and analyze ultra-high-plex images generated by Akoya's CODEX platform, enabling an integrated, flexible, and scalable solution from discovery to translational and clinical research, the company said.

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has introduced Coronascape, a specialized version of its Metascape bioinformatics platform designed for big-data analysis of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 research. The La Jolla, California-based research institute said that Coronascape is meant to serve as a multiomics data clearinghouse for efforts to develop effective targets and therapies for the novel coronavirus. SBP developed the web-based Metascape portal in partnership with the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation and the University of California, San Diego.

Paradigm4 has introduced Reveal: Single Cell, an app to help biopharmaceutical companies manage and analyze large sets of single-cell data. Reveal: Single Cell, built on top of the bioinformatics firm's SciDB database management platform, supports multiomic analysis and association. Paradigm4 said that users can choose cells across multiple studies to evaluate tissue distribution, look for variance in response to treatment, and compare normal to diseased cells. The new app is an extension of Reveal, a translational informatics platform released in 2018.

NimaGen of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has launched the EasySeq SARS-CoV-2 Whole Genome Sequencing Kit. It is based on a patented reverse complement PCR (RC-PCR) library preparation method that combines target amplification and indexing into a single closed-tube PCR step, reducing hands-on time and risk of cross contamination or sample mix up. The kit includes tiled RC-PCR primer and probe pools to cover 99 percent of the viral genome with more than 90 percent read uniformity. Also included are the RC-PCR mastermix, UDI indexes, and an AmpliClean Magnetic Bead Clean-up kit.

Combinati has launched the Q SARS-CoV-2 Triplex Assay for its Absolute Q digital PCR system. The multiplexed, research-use-only assay detects SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids from extracted samples in a single reaction. The workflow includes microfluidic array partitioning plates and required reagents, has one hands-on step, and provides results in 90 minutes. The assay demonstrates sensitivity down to single viral targets, enabling researchers to detect trace amounts of virus even in a high background of human genomic DNA, according to the company.

Promega has launched the Spectrum Compact CE system, a benchtop capillary electrophoresis instrument for Sanger sequencing and DNA fragment analysis it developed in collaboration with Hitachi High-Tech. The platform, first announced in 2017, can process up to 32 samples in a single run and supports applications such as microsatellite instability analysis, mixed sample analysis, forensic STR analysis, and cell line authentication.