Bio Rad QX200 Droplet Digital PCR System

Bio Rad QX200 Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) System provides absolute quantification of target DNA or RNA molecules for EvaGreen or probe-based digital PCR applications. BioRad QX200 combines water-oil emulsion droplet technology with microfluidics. The AutoDG droplet generator partitions each sample into 20,000 uniform nanoliter-sized droplets and a droplet reader bundled QuantaSoft™ software count the PCR-positive and PCR-negative droplets.

Thousands of hospitals and molecular testing labs in the US and around the world have Bio-Rad’s QX200 and QXDx ddPCR systems installed and have the capacity to perform SARS-CoV-2 ddPCR testing. The SARS-CoV-2 ddPCR test represents the latest addition to Bio-Rad’s product offerings related to COVID-19. This is the second EUA Bio-Rad has been granted for COVID-19. Last week, the company received an EUA for a serology test to detect antibodies to the virus.

Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) employs advanced microfluidics technology to generate thousands of highly uniform nanoliter-sized droplets in each sample, achieving sample partitioning on a massive scale. Once generated, the droplets can be amplified, read and analyzed. In traditional PCR, a single measurement is performed on a single sample, while in ddPCR, thousands of measurement can be performed on each sample.

Bio-Rad ddPCR can be useful for many food/water quality and safety applications such, GMO testing, allergens detection, food fraud, bacterial and foodborne/waterborne virus enumeration and virulence profiling. In this area of application the technology offers all its intrinsic benefits in terms of resolution in quantification possibility of genes colocalization at single bacterium level and reduced sensitivity to PCR inhibitors.

Bio Rad QX200 Droplet Digital PCR System. Ultra-sensitive and high-precision gene quantification digital PCR system

The Droplet DigitalTM PCR System (ddPCRTM) is a third-generation PCR that greatly accelerates research on genetic diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases.

The ddPCR system can perform absolute quantification with extremely high accuracy and sensitivity. Since it can be analyzed at a resolution of 1 copy, it is useful for applications such as CNV (copy number variation) analysis, Rare sequence detection, and gene expression analysis.

Benefits of the QX200 Droplet Digital PCR System

• Most precise and sensitive digital PCR solution for a wide variety of applications
• Flexible digital PCR chemistry — optimized for TaqMan Hydrolysis Probe and EvaGreen Assays
• Flexible assay setup — scalable for high sensitivity or high throughput
• Simple and easy-to-use workflow with 96-sample throughput
• Droplet partitioning by the QX200 Droplet Digital technology reduces bias from amplification efficiency and PCR inhibitors
• Convenient assay design — standard curves are not required

Applications of the QX200 Droplet Digital PCR System

• Cancer biomarker studies and copy number variation
  Measure varying degrees of cancer mutations, detect rare DNA target copies, and resolve copy number variation states with superior sensitivity and resolution. PrimePCR™ ddPCR Assays are now available for mutation and copy number detection. These are predesigned, wet-lab validated assays.
• Pathogen detection
  Employ the extreme precision of the QX200 System to quantify small fold changes in target DNA or RNA molecules in pathogen detection and monitoring.
• Next generation sequencing
  Perform accurate quantification and qualification of NGS libraries without the use of a standard curve.
• Gene expression analysis
  Achieve reliable and reproducible measurements of small fold changes for low abundance of mRNA and miRNA.
• Environmental monitoring 
  Test a wide variety of environmental samples like soil and water using the QX200 System.
• Food testing 
  Perform routine evaluation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) using validated ddPCR methods.

The Bio Rad QX200 and Life Technologies’ QuantStudio™ 3D Digital PCR System each boast 20,000 partitions per sample. The former, with flow-cytometry-like imaging of droplets, has the potential to isolate a droplet for further analysis (a feature that has been demonstrated in the published literature but is not currently offered on the commercial platform), while QuantStudio 3D enables users to re-analyze a chip if something goes wrong with the initial read.

Droplet Digital PCR Technology and Workflow

The Bio Rad QX200 Droplet Digital PCR System consists of two instruments, the QX200 Droplet Generator and the QX200 Droplet Reader, and their associated consumables.

The Bio Rad QX200 Droplet Generator is used to partition ddPCR reaction mix into thousands of nanoliter-sized droplets. After PCR on a thermal cycler, droplets from each sample are analyzed individually on the QX200 Droplet Reader. Droplets are read well by well as they are streamed single file past a two-color optical detection system in a serial manner.

Up to 96 samples can be processed per run. The PCR-positive and PCR-negative droplets are counted to provide absolute quantification of target DNA in digital form. Alternatively, amplified products can be extracted from droplets following PCR for downstream applications, such as sequencing or cloning.

Include:

• QX200 Droplet Generator system
• QX200 Droplet Reader system
• dedicated analysis notebook PC
• 1PX1 PCR Plate Sealer

Reference Link

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