These reagents offer a complete, standardised sample preparation system that is easier to use and will help customers produce more robust and consistent array results
Affymetrix has announced that it is offering a new line of GeneChip brand expression reagents including two new cDNA synthesis kits, which have been developed in collaboration with reagent provider Invitrogen.
These reagents have been optimised for use with Affymetrix GeneChip technology, offering a complete, standardised sample preparation system that is easier to use and will help customers produce more robust and consistent array results.
"These reagents are part of our overall system evolution for expression analysis," said Alan Dance, Affymetrix's senior vice president of marketing.
"By optimising reagents, instrumentation and software using a systems approach, we are able to offer the best microarray performance available and continue to raise the standard of accuracy and reproducibility in gene expression analysis".
Both of the new cDNA synthesis kits were developed in collaboration with Invitrogen and contain Invitrogen's SuperScript reverse transcriptase (RT).
The One-Cycle cDNA synthesis kit offers all necessary reagents for standard target labelling, using as little as 1ug of total RNA as starting material, prior to the IVT labelling step.
This protocol has been used by the majority of Affymetrix customers already, but the new kit provides improved configuration and greater convenience.
The new Two-Cycle cDNA synthesis kit offers customers a streamlined procedure for preparing samples using a small amount of material, such as biopsy or laser capture dissected samples.
The kit contains all necessary reagents for performing two cycles of cDNA synthesis before IVT labelling.
The entire two-cycle cDNA protocol takes only two and a half days, compared to four days with the previous procedure.
The cDNA synthesis kits are designed for use with the new GeneChip IVT labelling kit, which is used in standard and small sample target labelling protocol for linear amplification and labeling of the targets with biotin.
The new GeneChip IVT labelling kit was developed specifically for the GeneChip platform and provides high-yield, consistent and uniform labeling efficiency, with a more streamlined protocol and convenient packaging.
Affymetrix is currently taking orders for the new reagent kits.
