New family of FFPE reagent kits launched by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences

Today, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences launched a family of FormaPure reagent kits for extracting nucleic acid from often challenging formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues. FormaPure reagent kits represent a single chemistry system designed and optimized for use in next-generation sequencing (NGS) and other downstream applications, including qPCR/ddPCR/PCR.

The family of reagent kits is made up of FormaPure Total for total nucleic acid isolation, FormaPure DNA for DNA isolation and FormaPure RNA for RNA isolation. “Maximizing sample integrity, yield and purity from FFPE samples is required to minimize the risk of losing critical genetic information,” said Tom Curtis, director of genomics marketing, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences.

“Our FormaPure reagent kits provide researchers flexible, scalable solutions that generate consistent results while maintaining higher-integrity nucleic acids to support the improved sensitivity of NGS applications.”

NGS performance often starts with RNA integrity. FormaPure chemistry, when compared to similar, “industryleading” kits currently in use, retains the best possible RNA integrity because the extraction chemistry is optimized for achieving the best results from even the most challenging FFPE tissues. Better yet, the chemistry system also provides significantly more fusion calls and fusion reads than other FFPE extraction kits, and at a fraction of the price.  

“Losing critical data during extraction workflows can significantly impact discovery,” added Curtis. “In the end, researchers only need as much nucleic acid as their library prep protocol calls for. It’s essential to start with the highest-quality, not necessarily the most, data-rich samples one can obtain through extraction.”

FormaPure Total, FormaPure DNA and FormaPure RNA are the newest additions to the Beckman Coulter Life Sciences growing portfolio of Agencourt reagent kits for nucleic acid isolation, purification and cleanup.

The new products are currently available for sale. Each kit is sold in two prep sizes based on throughput needs. Agencourt reagent kits are not intended or validated for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions.