Kit has been validated on follicles, cigarette butts and dried blood spots and can extract genomic DNA from sperm heads, epithelial cells, saliva, chewing gum and envelopes
DNA Research Innovation (DRI) has launched a new high performance CST forensic DNA purification kit that offers DNA extraction from samples of very low quantity and quality.
Extraction is very rapid, taking as little as 30 minutes.
Based on DRI's novel and patented ChargeSwitch technology, the new kit provides very pure DNA suitable for sensitive downstream analyses, such as short tandem repeat (STR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis.
The kit has been validated on hair follicles, cigarette butts and dried blood spots and can also be used for extracting genomic DNA from sperm heads, epithelial cells, saliva, chewing gum and envelopes.
Valuable forensic samples are often characterised by their low quantity and quality, which can hamper both conventional methods of purification and downstream STR and mitochondrial SNP analysis.
With rapidly increasing workloads at national forensic laboratories, the need for a rapid, quality protocol for both manual and automated methods is highly sought after.
The CST forensic DNA purification kit can routinely extract DNA from as little as 1ul of blood from a dried blood spot.
Additionally, the rapid CST protocol does not require the use of PCR inhibitors such as alcohols, concentrated chaotropic salts or organic solvents.
"The feedback from our trial sites has been extremely positive," said Steven Ripley, sales and marketing manager at DRI.
"The kit's performance has now been demonstrated on a wide range of sample types using the same fast protocol".
In independent testing, the CST forensic DNA purification kit outperformed current industry standard kits in both sensitivity and DNA yield. DRI's proprietary ChargeSwitch technology uses magnetic beads, completely avoiding centrifugation steps and the need for changing reaction tubes required by other commercially available extraction kits.
A range of ChargeSwitch kits is available for both manual use and fully automated processing on the Tecan Genesis robotic workstations.
