Improving master mix delivery

The quality of PCR and qPCR assay results depends heavily on the precise and accurate delivery of master mix. Optimizing liquid handlers with this reagent is an obvious but expensive proposition. Artel is offering a remedy for this situation with the release of a white paper detailing how to improve delivery utilizing PCRMix QualAssure solution, which mimics the rheological properties of commercially available master mixes. Laboratories can now optimize liquid handler performance prior to running assays and achieve significantly improved results at a lower cost.

Artel conducted a study using four commercially available master mixes (EconoTaq PLUS 2x by Lucigen, Quick-Load Taq 2X by New England Biolabs, TaqMan Fast Advanced by ThermoFisher, and PCR Master Mix by ThermoFisher). An aqueous solution containing 20% glycerol and an aqueous solution (QualAssure C) were also included in the study. Tests were repeated for three different master mix handling methods: thawing on ice and keeping on ice on the handler deck, thawing at room temperature and keeping at room temperature, and thawing on ice and allowing equilibration to room temperature on the deck prior to dispensing.

This equivalency testing demonstrated that PCRMix QualAssure solutions behaves similarly to the commercially available master mixes, and that the aqueous and 20% glycerol solutions are not suitable substitutes for optimizing handler performance.

Further details are available in the white paper entitled: Using PCRMix QualAssure for assessing liquid transfer performance with the MVS>>