Rubicon Genomics Launches the TransPlex™ Whole Transcriptome Amplification Kit for Improved Expression Profiling from Fixed and Unfixed Tissue
Sept. 8, 2005 — Rubicon Genomics
Rubicon Genomics, Inc., announced the launch of its TransPlex™ whole transcriptome amplification (WTA) kit for amplification of nanogram quantities of RNA from fresh and formalin-fixed tissue. The TransPlex kits have been extensively tested by independent academic and pharmaceutical laboratories, and proven to faithfully reproduce expression patterns even for formalin-fixed biopsies that are more than 10 years old. In less than four hours, 10 nanograms of RNA can be amplified into 10 micrograms of stable cDNA product without detectable 3’ bias or background.
TransPlex kits convert total RNA into in vitro cDNA libraries of short, overlapping amplimers that faithfully represent the entire transcriptome of any animal, plant, or microorganism. These molecular libraries are amplified by universal-primer PCR, which has the advantage of both exponential amplification kinetics and linear product representation. TransPlex shows little gene- or exon-bias for transcripts up to 10 kb in length, even after extensive RNA degradation.
“We continue to execute our strategy to become the industry standard for managing genetic resources,” said Fred G. Beyerlein, president and chief executive officer, Rubicon Genomics, Inc. “With the roll out of our TransPlex kits we are looking to reach another tier of our target market and put our products in the hands of the users. The knowledge and experience we have gained in our service business, in cooperation with our clients, has enabled us to put a superior product on the market.”
TransPlex has been used by collaborators and early-access customers for nearly two years. RNA has been amplified from formalin-fixed biopsies and shown to perform equally well on the Affymetrix U133 or X3P GeneChip® — giving excellent performance with 95 percent correlation with IHC and pathology results, independent of the age of the biopsies or condition of the RNA. Q-PCR has been used to quantify the faithful representation of expressed sequences from both unfixed and fixed materials isolated conventionally or by LCM. TransPlex is ideal for studies of human splice variants.
TransPlex kits contain proprietary reagents and protocol sufficient for 24 microarray hybridizations. The protocol is much faster, more reproducible, and less labor intensive than alternative RNA amplification methods, and is scaleable from single tubes to 384-well plates. Once amplified, the TransPlex cDNA is stable and can be reamplified even after years of storage. It has proven the method of choice for tissue repositories responsible for archiving and collaborative studies of thousands of irreplaceable biopsies. It is also used extensively for pharmacogenomic and diagnostic applications.
Rubicon will continue to offer TransPlex WTA and GenomePlex WGA contract services for institutional customers with high-throughput needs, as well as offer the TransPlex WTA kits for individual researchers. For details on contract projects or purchase of TransPlex WTA kits, please visit the Rubicon website: http://www.rubicongenomics.com/ or contact Rubicon by telephone at 734.677.6210 or facsimile at 734.477.9902.
About Rubicon Genomics, Inc.
Rubicon, located in Ann Arbor, Mich., USA, develops and commercializes proprietary OmniPlex™ based tests results for non-invasive diagnosis of cancer and other diseases, as well as kits and services to facilitate gene-based research and drug development. For more information, visit www.rubicongenomics.com.