Lab Research Advances with Cell-Based Gene Expression Analysis Kits

New gene expression kits can eliminate the time-consuming step of RNA purification, reducing the amount of time that is typically necessary to prepare and analyze RNA from cultured cells using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in applications such as siRNA-mediated gene silencing and microRNA analysis.

Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA, USA) has launched a new family of TaqMan Cells-to-CT kits for performing cell-based gene expression research more rapidly. The TaqMan Cells-to-CT kits allow expression analysis to be performed directly from cultured mammalian cells derived from a variety of tissue sources, including epithelial cells and stem cells. Sample preparation time is reduced to less than 10 minutes, compared to the traditionally required 30 to 60 minutes, and loss of RNA is eliminated.

The kits incorporate the gold standard TaqMan chemistry, forming part of a complete workflow that has been designed with all the necessary reagents for performing expression analysis and are validated for use with the Applied Biosystems' TaqMan assays and arrays. The family includes kits for gene expression analysis from mRNA; pre-amplification of selected targets; microRNA expression analysis; and gene expression analysis with fast real-time PCR.

Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, USA (Englewood, USA), one of the world's largest and most experienced centers for infertility treatment, focuses on developing new diagnostics and therapeutics for in vitro fertilization. Scientists at the center have developed an innovative research procedure for screening all 46 human chromosomes to identify abnormalities in embryos, and have begun to determine when stem cells differentiate during pre-implantation embryonic development. They are using the TaqMan Gene Expression Cells-to-CT kit for several projects, including the characterization of single cells in three-day old embryos, saving valuable time in the workflow.

"The use of real-time PCR is critical to our ability to perform expression analysis on stem cells,” said Nathan Treff, Ph.D., director of molecular biology at Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey. "Using the TaqMan Gene Expression Cells-to-CT kit and TaqMan arrays, we have been able to improve the efficiency of our real-time PCR workflow and increase the throughput of our lab by 10-fold.”

Applied Biosystems is a developer and marketer of instrument-based systems, consumables, software, and services for the life-science market. The company's comprehensive line of real-time PCR chemistries and instrument systems includes the Applied Biosystems 7900HT Fast Real-Time PCR system, 7500 Real-Time PCR system, 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR system, 7300 Real-time PCR system, StepOne Real-Time PCR system, and StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR system.


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