Oxford Expression Techologies has introduced Baculoquant, a novel one-step virus titration kit which can give an accurate result within two hours without the need for plaque assays or immunoassays
Baculoquant is a fast and cost-effective method of recombinant virus titration.
It is based on a technique called quantitative PCR (QPCR).
QPCR utilises a set of primers and a probe which are designed to specifically target and amplify a small region of the baculovirus genome.
The increase in amplification of this small region is then correlated to virus genome copy number and can be used to measure the number of recombinant virus particles present in an infected insect cell culture.
This novel titration method has been proven to be a very accurate, reproducible and fast way to titrate recombinant baculoviruses, both for single-use titrations and for high throughput applications on automated systems.
Compared with other methods of virus titration such as plaque assay, end-point dilution and Elisa, which require anywhere from 24 to 120 hours to yield a result and involve specialised procedures, baculoQUANT can provide a result within two hours, dramatically improving the productivity of the protein production process.
Commenting on the introduction of Baculoquant, James Bernard, co-investor and acting CEO said: "The speed, simplicity and accuracy of Baculoquant is ideal for customers looking for a viable alternative to traditional methods of virus titration.
"Baculoquant is the only kit of its kind available and it is an ideal quantitation method for customers working with high throughput baculovirus production."
