RainDance Technologies,
Inc., a leading provider of innovative microdroplet-based solutions for
health and human disease research, announced today it has expanded the capabilities
of its Sequence Enrichment Solution to enable the resequencing of up to 20,000
PCR targets. In addition, RainDance said it has become the first to support
whole genome amplified samples for targeted resequencing.
In a presentation at Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s Exploring Next-Generation
Sequencing conference, the company said these new enhancements represent a logical
evolution of the RainDance technology platform and will add attractive benefits
for the researcher investigating rare variants in large populations that cause
cancer and other devastating diseases.
“With these expanded capabilities, we expect the market will accelerate
its adoption of the RDT 1000, the centerpiece of our Sequence Enrichment Solution,
for targeted resequencing studies across all genomic research sectors and in
conjunction with all next-generation sequencing platforms,” said Christopher
McNary, President and Chief Executive Officer, RainDance Technologies. “Our
aggressive development program is rapidly creating new high-value protocols
and applications, enabling RDT 1000 customers to increase the speed of their
research into complex diseases,” said McNary.
Expanded Primer Library Enables Broader View of Human Genome
RainDance said it has expanded the content of its DNA primer library from 4,000
amplicons to 20,000 amplicons, while maintaining the precision provided by microdroplet-based
PCR. This will allow researchers to incorporate a broader range of content for
their large-scale targeted resequencing studies and to broaden their view of
the human genome.
“Workflow and sample requirements will not change as the content is scaled
up to 20,000 amplicons,” McNary said. “Our Sequence Enrichment Solution
will maintain its performance and continue to provide the highest-quality data
and sample uniformity.”
The company said the expanded DNA libraries will be available in the first
quarter of 2010 and can be ordered through RainDance sales channels and service
providers.
Whole Genome Amplification Protocol Supports Small Sample Sequencing
RainDance also announced it is the first company to support the use of whole
genome amplified DNA samples for sequence enrichment. This capability will enable
researchers to conduct studies with sample quantities that were previously too
small for targeted resequencing. Now scientists can perform whole genomic amplification
(WGA) on rare or small samples that have very low amounts of DNA, such as those
found in tumor biopsies.
“The results of our studies demonstrate that RainDance’s Sequence
Enrichment Solution is fully compatible with WGA samples and delivers the same
high-quality results as assays performed with unamplified data,” said
McNary.
The company said its WGA protocol is available now and has been validated using
kits from Qiagen, GE Healthcare, and BioHelix Corporation. The kits can be ordered
from their respective manufacturers.
“Both our expanded content library and WGA protocol are exceptionally
easy to use and work seamlessly with our Sequence Enrichment Solution and RDT
1000 system,” McNary said. “These new capabilities are the first
of many exciting applications for microdroplet-based PCR that RainDance will
introduce in the coming weeks. These enhancements will help researchers rethink
the way they design resequencing studies and will encourage new approaches to
discovery. They will use the same proven hardware, consumables, and reagents
presently available for our commercial solution,” he said.