Singapore, Feb 03, 2010: Norgen Biotek, an innovative privately held Canadian biotechnology company focusing primarily on advancing powerful tools for nucleic acids (NA) and protein purification, announced the launch of 10 new kits for the fast and simple isolation of nucleic acids from blood, plasma and serum, including circulating nucleic acids.

The company noted that these kits provide fast, robust, reliable and simple procedures for isolating and purifying high quality macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, circulating NA and microRNA from a wide range of sample volumes (100 (micro) L up to 10 mL). The release noted that the sensitivity and speed make these kits very useful and powerful tools for a number of applications including the detection of tumor biomarkers, viruses and microRNA detection by PCR, quantitative PCR, RT-PCR, microarrays, and next gen sequencing.

Norgen's blood/plasma/serum kits utilize a convenient spin column format for nucleic acid purification, and both fresh and frozen samples can be processed. In particular, the circulating NA kits provide an advantage over other available kits in that they do not require extension tubes for the purification of free circulating nucleic acids from large sample volumes. Circulating NA present in 1 mL - 10 mL inputs are concentrated into final elution volumes of 50 - 200 mL that can be used directly in sensitive downstream applications, as the kits completely remove all contaminants and inhibitors. These kits are also available in a 96-well format, allowing for even faster sample processing and high-throughput purification of circulating NA, and can therefore be used in biomarker discovery and in diagnostics.

"This basket of new kits represents an exciting addition to our line of high quality products. These kits are unique in that they allow for the reliable isolation of all sizes of circulating NA without the use of inhibitory and harmful phenol or chloroform. Currently, we have more than 70 kits for genomics and proteomics research applications. Our mission is to bring to market innovative Best-in-Class sample preparation kits that can be used in research as well as in diagnostic applications. Once again we are taking advantage of our unique technology in order to develop sensitive and user-friendly products for our customers" said Dr. Haj-Ahmad, President & CEO of Norgen Biotek.