RainDance introduces new digital PCR system for European researchers

RainDance Technologies, Inc., the Digital Biology™ Company, today announced the introduction of its new RainDrop™ Digital PCR System to the European genetics research market. Attendees of the annual European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) meeting in Nuremberg, Germany have the opportunity to see demonstrations of the system, which establishes new performance standards in sensitivity, multiplexing and absolute quantitation in PCR analysis.    

Capable of generating more than a billion reactions in a single day, the RainDrop System transforms the performance of molecular assays by enabling digital answers across a number of important applications including low-frequency tumor allele detection, gene expression, copy number variation, and SNP measurement. Since each droplet encapsulates a single molecule, researchers can quickly determine the absolute number of specific target DNA and compare that to the background wild-type DNA. The RainDrop System also shifts the current digital PCR (dPCR) paradigm from a single-color-per-marker approach to a two color with varying probe intensity method that is capable of multiplexing up to 10 markers.

"With the introduction of the RainDrop System at ESHG, we have officially ushered in the next generation of PCR for European researchers," said Mark Dronsfield, Ph.D., European Sales Director at RainDance. "Europe is home to a number of the world's leading research organizations and we are already actively engaged with many of them who are interested in bringing the power of a billion reactions with digital answers to their projects."

In a recent Lab on a Chip paper, scientists from Université de Strasbourg and Université Paris Descartes, used the RainDance dPCR technology to detect a single mutated copy of KRAS in a background of 200,000 wild-type copies. By processing reactions in millions of picoliter droplets, the platform improved sensitivity by two orders of magnitude compared to existing technologies.

RainDance will be showcasing the new RainDrop System at ESHG in booth #418.

Source: RainDance Technologies