Q Chip Introduces ReaX™ Assays Range

Q Chip, a leading developer of microencapsulation solutions, has launched a new range of enhanced formulation PCR reagents - ReaX™ Assays. ReaX Assays contain all the components required to perform a PCR amplification assay of a selected target organism or genes, encapsulated into beads; only template DNA is required prior to running the PCR protocol. ReaX Assay beads completely standardise and streamline set-up, and make PCR reactions extremely robust and reproducible.

The first two products in the ReaX Assays range are GAPDH and 16S. Each bead is in a single dose format, pre-aliquoted into either a 96 well plate or into 8 or 12 well strips. ReaX Assay GAPDH beads are optimised for real time PCR detection of the housekeeping gene GAPDH and can be used in gene expression studies to obtain quantification of samples of an unknown concentration. They contain all the reagents required to perform GAPDH amplification including an optimised GAPDH primer set, a GAPDH Taqman probe, reaction buffer, MgCl2, dNTPs and Hot-Start polymerase. ReaX Assay 16S beads are designed as a detection assay for bacteria by PCR amplification of 16S ribosomal RNA. The 16S beads contain all the reagents required to perform 16S rRNA gene amplification, including a high-performance Taq polymerase, dNTPs and the universal 16S rRNA gene-specific primers 27F and 907R. Amplification is confirmed using end point PCR.

Q Chip’s CSO, Dr Jo Daniels commented “ReaX beads allow even untrained operators to set up PCR reactions in any thermal cycler system, whilst giving highly reproducible results. They are highly versatile since they can be optimised for many different types of PCR assays as well as multiple fluorescent chemistries. So far this year we have introduced ReaX mastermixes, ReaX Assays and the ReaX Custom Bead Service, with a portfolio of ReaX assays planned for introduction on a frequent basis”