Tecan has announced the availability of a new application for viral RNA extraction and nucleic acid testing (NAT) on the Genesis Robotic Sample Processor
Tecan has announced the availability of a new application for viral RNA extraction and nucleic acid testing (NAT) on the Genesis Robotic Sample Processor (RSP).
The Genesis RSP provides a fast, reliable and highly accurate system to automate the extraction of viral RNA from plasma, serum and other biological samples. When used with the Qiagen QIAamp 96 Viral RNA Biorobot kit, the Genesis RSP can extract RNA from 96 samples simultaneously within 120 minutes.
This outstanding performance enables a laboratory to process up to 400 samples a day for RNA testing.
The Tecan viral RNA extraction solution has been developed for clinical laboratories, blood banks, blood transfusion centres, reference and diagnostic laboratories that need to detect RNA viruses.
RNA viruses include chronic disease-causing agents such as hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Several nucleic acid testing (NAT) kits are available commercially to detect a wide range of RNA viruses known to contaminate blood samples.
However, conventional methods for nucleic acid extraction have been hampered by slow and laborious procedures and problems due to cross-contamination.
In the new solution from Tecan, pooled or single donations of blood samples are used to prepare blood plasma for viral RNA extraction.
Using vacuum extraction, RNA is extracted by adsorption onto solid- phase columns that are included in the Qiagen QIAamp 96 Viral RNA Biorobot kit.
RNA is allowed to bind to the silica columns, the columns are washed, and finally the RNA is eluted from the silica columns.
The eluate is collected in a 96-well deep-well plate and RNA is amplified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) before detection is performed. Tecan's solution offers distinct advantages.
Unlike other systems, the Genesis RSP allows selection of any number of samples for analysis up to a maximum of 96; rapid processing of samples is possible due to the inclusion of an 8-channel pipettor.
For the first time, an extraction system is available that eliminates possible cross-contamination by using a checking procedure that sets aside any wells where clogged filters are detected.
This unique checking procedure allows many samples to be processed without interruption.
All parts of the system are designed to permit easy cleaning after use.
In addition, the Genesis RSP solution for RNA extraction has been specifically designed to support the use of four A-rings (reaction vessels) that ensure compatibility with the Cobas Amplicor HCV V2.0 RNA testing kit (Roche).
An important part of the system is the easy-to-use NAT-Q vRNA V1.0 software.
This software has been specially designed to control RNA extraction using the Qiagen QIAamp 96 Viral RNA Biorobot kit.
The software tracks all samples, checks for clogged filters and provides a superior management system for the whole RNA extraction procedure.
In addition to NAT-Q vRNA V1.0, Gemini V3.2 software is included to control the extraction process.
In combination with the Cobas Amplicor HCV V2.0 (Roche) kit, the Genesis RSP system provides an outstanding performance that can detect hepatitis C viral RNA to a level of 35 IU/ml (95% confidence). The Genesis RSP/ Qiagen QIAamp 96 Viral RNA Biorobot kit system has been rigorously validated in combination with the Cobas Amplicor HCV V2.0 (Roche) by the Blood Transfusion Service in Bern, Switzerland.
This outstanding solution for viral RNA extraction from Tecan includes the Genesis RSP, NAT-Q vRNA V1.0 and Gemini V3.2 software.
The QIAamp 96 Viral RNA Biorobot kit is available separately from Qiagen.
Existing users of the Genesis RSP may obtain an upgrade to support the use of the QIAamp 96 Viral RNA Biorobot kit.
