Nucleic acid extraction and QC

Automated nucleic acid extraction

For high throughput, standardized isolation of high-quality DNA or RNA from a wide range of biospecimen we use two extraction robots: A Perkin Elmer Chemagic 360 instrument with 12-, 24- and 96-rod heads and a Qiagen QiaCube instrument.

We offer DNA extraction e.g. from whole blood (fresh or frozen), buffy coat, saliva, buccal swaps, tissue and cell pellets as well as RNA extraction from PAXgene Blood RNA tubes, tissue and cell pellets, additional clean-up such as globin-depletion is available upon request. Please contact us for advice and help in selecting and optimizing the extraction method for your particular project.

DNA cleaning and concentration

Some molecular applications are sensitive to impurities in DNA samples and require a specific minimum concentration that is sometimes hard to achieve. Therefore, we offer a DNA cleaning and concentrating service with Agilent Ampure XP beads to qualify samples for those downstream applications.

Quality control

CF-Genomics performs quality control of in-core and user isolated DNA and RNA samples in preparation for downstream applications according to the specific requirements. For large sample numbers we have automated some aspects of the QC process using a liquid handling station. We very highly recommend to never omit the QC step to avoid disappointment and unnecessary cost down the line!

DNA QC Options:

• Measurement of concentration by NanoDrop, Qubit or QuantiT-Kits

• Check of DNA intergrity on 0,8% agarose gel

• XY-PCR to exclude enzyme inhibitors

RNA QC Options:

• Bioanalyzer- or LabChip-run for quantification and QC (RIN or RQS) and/or Qubit-measurement

• DNA/RNA cartridges for independent use are available upon request (additional cost)