System can be applied to enrich for mRNA in transcriptomes from pure and mixed microbial cultures.

Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Washington became the first two institutions to receive  NuGEN’s new Ovation® Prokaryotic RNA-Seq system through a limited-access program targeting medical and environmental microbial research centers.

NuGEN’s Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System is designed to enrich for mRNA in next-generation sequencing libraries. The resulting cDNA is compatible with NuGEN’s Encore™ NGS Library Systems as well as other library workflows using double-stranded cDNA as input for the creation of sequencing libraries. The firm says the platform can be applied to transcriptomes extracted from pure and mixed microbial cultures using a simple workflow, and generates reproducible transcriptome profiles across all prokaryotic species in the Eubacteria and Archaebacteria kingdoms.

Founded in 2000, San Carlos, CA-based NuGEN specializes in the development of solutions for high-sensitivity nucleic acid amplification and target preparation. The firm’s product family for sample preparation takes purified RNA, DNA, or cell lysates and prepares them for specific downstream analytical needs. The firm’s existing Ovation RNA-Seq System, launched in December 2009, has been developed as a fast and simple method for preparing amplified cDNA from total RNA, for RNA-Seq applications (transcriptome sequencing). The technology is driven by NuGEN’s Ribo-SPIA® technology, a rapid, simple and sensitive RNA amplification process it claims allows microgram quantities of cDNA to be prepared in approximately six hours, using just 500 pg total RNA.

The Ovation product line was further expanded in November 2010 by the addition of the firm’s Ovation FFPE System and Ovation RNA-Seq FFPE System, which it describes as the first commercially available products designed specifically to enable researchers to utilize next-generation sequencing for the analysis of nucleic acids extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues.

NuGEN’s product portfolio includes solutions for next-generation sequencing and microarray/qPCR applications. Its Encore NGS Library Systems have been developed to provide simple, fast, and flexible solutions for constructing DNA libraries used in all significant next-generation sequencing applications. The Encore solutions are complemented by the Ovation RNA-Seq and 3′-DGE Systems, which can be used up front of the library-preparation systems to provide a complete workflow for transcriptome sequencing and expression-profiling applications, the firm claims.

Its Ovation and Applause™ RNA Amplification Systems for microarrays are part of a family of modularly designed, application-based products designed to allow whole transcriptome analysis from virtually any biological sample, regardless of the type, size, and source of the sample, NuGEN continues.  For DNA sample preparation, the Ovation WGA System has been developed to offer linear amplification technology based on the SPIA® (Single Primer Isothermal Amplification) platform. RNA sample-preparation solutions include the Prelude Direct Lysis Module, the Ovation RNA Amplification Systems for microarrays and qPCR, the Applause RNA Amplification system based on the Ribo-SPIA technology, and post-amplification target-prep modules.

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