Discover how a simple enzymatic method allows efficient extraction of DNA from insects while maximizing yields and minimizing waste.

MicroGEM’s Rob Thompson introduces a simple protocol for extracting DNA from insects using a single tube, without ionic detergents, magnetic beads, columns or centrifugation. He will use case studies featuring a range of insects including fruit flies, anopheles mosquitoes, and African whitefly, and will present qPCR data comparing enzymatic lysis with traditional spin-column methods.

Join us to discover the advantages of temperature-driven, enzymatic extractions that provide maximum DNA recovery, a simplified workflow, and significant reduction of plastic and chemical waste – all in minutes, not hours.

Learning outcomes include:

• The differences between chemical and enzymatic, heat-driven DNA extractions
• A method to extract DNA from small/scarce/challenging insect samples in less than 20 minutes
• Optimizing extractions for downstream applications including PCR, qPCR, whole genome amplification, and amplicon sequencing

This webinar was recorded live by MicroGEM on April 1, 2020.

The post On-Demand Webinar: Tips for Extracting DNA from Insects appeared first on MicroGEM.

Gene therapy, molecular biology, pharmacology, forensics, and plant/insect pathology are just a few areas where MicroGEM is helping scientists produce faster analysis and results.

Join us. Help us advance our technical activities and grow our core business. We are currently hiring for the following position:

Intellectual Property Manager

The intellectual property manager works with the group legal counsel to implement the company’s intellectual property plan and operational framework. The position is responsible for implementing, maintaining and continually improving project and knowledge management systems and documentation, providing expert advice on intellectual property to the R&D teams and senior management, and identifying freedom to operate.

The position works closely with the chief science officer (NZ) and technical teams (NZ and US) to identify the emerging new innovation for intellectual property protection and technology translation, including the identification and protections of intellectual property in collaborative projects and commercialisation.

The position could be based in Southampton, United Kingdon or Dunedin, New Zealand (alternate locations could also be considered).

What makes you stand out?

• A degree or similar experience in a life science discipline is strongly preferred
• A degree in law is strongly preferred
• Ability to develop strategic plans to provide a strong IP position for company's products and the ability to articulate those plans to senior management
• Ability to manage the preparation and prosecution of patent applications and conduct patentability and freedom-to-operate searches
• Sense of urgency and ability to drive projects to completion under tight deadlines
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and highly effective analytical and problem-solving skills, including excellent attention to detail
• Demonstrated understanding of patent and trademark law is a must.

Check out the job description and submit your resume with a cover letter to info@microgembio.com.

As an international biotech company, we're always on the look-out for talented scientists, engineers, and sales professionals who want to apply their skills to cutting-edge molecular biology. We're also eager to meet interns interested in exploring their interests in biotechnology and expanding their skills in the fields of business administration, marketing, technology development, genomics, or molecular biology.

Submit a cover letter and resume to info@microgembio.com and let us know how you could contribute to our mission.

The post We’re hiring! appeared first on MicroGEM.

Join Jeff Hickey, MicroGEM's forensic expert and product specialist, for this on-demand webinar to discover how our simple, single-tube protocol can help efficiently process sexual assault samples, including Y screening and differential extractions.

Reducing agents, such as DTT, have been used to extract DNA from sperm cells in forensic sexual assault samples for many years. These reducing agents require harsh detergents and denaturants in the lysis buffer to reduce disulfide bonds. The resulting lysate contains reagents and proteins that must be removed via purification steps prior to qPCR and/or STR amplification.

This on-demand webinar explains the benefits of temperature-driven, enzymatic sperm lysis including:

• improved recovery of DNA
• speed
• simplified workflow and
• significant reduction of plastic and chemical waste.

Jeff shows qPCR and STR data comparing the enzymatic chemistry to conventional sperm lysis methods. He also discusses its use in Y screening of sexual assault evidence, as well as its use in differential extraction protocols.

Read more about the comparative analysis here.

Find product information here.

This webinar was recorded live by MicroGEM on February 11, 2020.

The post On-Demand Webinar: A Simple, Single-Tube Approach to Process Sexual Assault Samples appeared first on MicroGEM.

Mutations in the presenilin 1 (PSEN1) gene lead to the most aggressive form of familial Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) derived from AD patients and subsequently differentiated can be used for disease modeling. The research team previously generated a hiPSC line from a familial AD patient carrying a L150P point mutation in PSEN1. In this study, the team used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to correct for the single base pair mutation. This gene-corrected line, L150P-GC-hiPSC, serves as an isogenic control to the mutant line for future investigation of mechanisms and cellular phenotypes altered by this specific PSEN1 mutation.

prepGEM was used to extract DNA for genotyping.

Download the pdf here.

The post Research Highlight: prepGEM and CRISPR/Cas9 used to study presenilin gene mutation related to Alzheimer’s disease appeared first on MicroGEM.

For forensic cases in which refrigeration of human remains is not feasible, such as during a mass disaster or in rural forensic casework, collection and preservation are critical to ensuring sufficient quantity and quality of DNA. Researchers Holmes, Roman and Hughes-Stamm set out to examine two simple in-field collection and preservation methods for decomposing human tissues.

These methods were tested for their ability to facilitate more direct and faster processing of DNA from preserved tissues or DNA leached into the surrounding TENT preservative solution for STR typing. Pre-PCR methods tested in this study included a quick lysis of FTA® Elute Cards, silica-based purification (QIAquick®), enzyme-based extractions (PDQeX), and simple dilution of liquid preservative. The traditional DNA analysis pipeline, which includes DNA extraction and quantification, is compared to an alternate direct PCR method, thereby allowing the elimination of these two time-consuming and costly steps.

The results showed that MicroGEM’s PDQeX Nucleic Acid Extractor provided the most complete STR profiles in under 20 minutes. The study indicates that modified TENT preservative and FTA® Elute Cards both preserved DNA from relatively fresh tissue for up to six months at room temperature. However, mostly partial profiles were produced from decomposed tissues (day 6 – day 14 in this study) when stored for up to six months compared to when tissues were processed immediately following collection.

Overall, the modified TENT preservative produced higher DNA concentrations and more successful STR results than FTA® Elute Cards. In addition, the PDQeX generated the most successful STR typing results from the decomposed tissues stored in TENT for up to six months at room temperature. The direct PCR method used in this study generated comparable STR results to the traditional DNA analysis approach, warranting further investigation of direct PCR methods for forensic casework type samples.

PDQeX forensicGEM Universal was used as the enzyme reagent in this study.

Read about the study here.

The post Research Highlight: Comparative Study Finds PDQeX Produces Most Complete STR Profiles for Decomposing Human Tissues appeared first on MicroGEM.

This technical breakthrough to conduct bacterial DNA extraction and genomic analysis in the field is documented in Tree Lab: Portable genomics for early detecting of plant viruses and pests in Sub-Saharan Africa. Key collaborators included Dr. Laura Boykin of the University of Western Australia and members of the Cassava Virus Action Project.

Read more about the study and related publications here.

Learn about the PDQeX Nucleic Acid Extractor here.

The post Diagnosing Cassava Plant Pathogens in Africa: the impact of on-farm diagnostic sequencing appeared first on MicroGEM.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego leveraged a new technical approach using extracellular vesicles (EVs) laden with a tumor suppressor miRNA (miR-335) produced in B cells by plasmid DNA induction (iEVs). Their study demonstrated that iEVs are programmable to contain miR-355 cargo, deliver and restore it in LM2 cells, modulate target mRNA expression in vitro and in vivo, and greatly reduce the growth of orthotopic LM2 tumors in immune-deficient mice.

The study indicates that iEVs-335 could provide a new form of therapeutic intervention in cancers in which genomic interrogation documents a decrease of tumor suppressor miR-335 and/or an increase of SOX4, a transcription factor involved in embryonic development and cell fate determination.

RNAGEM was used for RNA extraction from transfected or untransfected J558L cells as well as for extracellular vesicles (EV) extraction.

Read about the study here. Download the pdf.

This study is also referenced in MicroGEM's RNAGEM Technical Overview.

The post Research Highlight: RNAGEM Used in Study to Restore miRNAs in Cancer Cells appeared first on MicroGEM.

A recent study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics identified a homozygous missense alteration in CLCC1, encoding a presumptive intracellular chloride channel highly expressed in the retina, associated with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP) in eight consanguineous families of Pakistani descent.

RP is a group of conditions affecting the function of light receptor cells in the eye, leading to reduced night vision, loss of peripheral vision, loss of central vision, and eventually leading to complete blindness. Autosomal recessive RP has been linked to a newly-identified homozygous genetic variant in the gene CLCC1.

The team of researchers demonstrated that alterations to this gene and protein channel affect cell survival and eye development in cell culture, as well as retinal structure and physiology in genetically-altered zebrafish and mice. This is the first identification of CLCC1 as a cause of human disease.

prepGEM was used to extract fish genomic DNA from larva or adult fish tail fin.

Read the study here. Download the PDF.

The post Research Highlight: prepGEM Used to Identify Recessive Eye Condition appeared first on MicroGEM.

MicroGEM was recognized for its unique DNA and RNA extraction techniques. The article includes descriptions of some of our most popular DNA extraction kits and technologies, specifically the PDQeX, and features an interview with our Chief Commercial Officer, LeRoy Blake.

Take a look at the article. See our certificate here.

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“‘Any research that involves a living thing ‒ be it a plant, a person, a microbe ‒ begins with the genome,' says Jeff Chapman, CEO of biotech company MicroGEM. ‘Everything starts with DNA, transcribed into RNA, and then translated into proteins. If you think about it, most life science research has a nucleic acid component to it.'

September 26, 2019 – MicroGEM's nucleic acid extraction technology uses a temperature-driven enzymatic approach to avoid many of the challenges of traditional nucleic acid extraction methods. Conventional methods can take hours to complete, use harsh chemicals and require multiple purification steps. The company’s ultimate goal is to create technologies that can be used by anyone in- and outside of the laboratory.

MicroGEM’s approach uses a single tube, which cuts the overall process time, lowers costs, and reduces the risk of contamination, an issue that many researchers struggle with when using the multiple steps of traditional extraction methods. The single tube can also be used in a standard thermocycler. Moreover, MicroGEM’s nucleic acid extraction method reduces the potential for sample loss, which can occur during conventional extraction processes, enabling the use of very small sample sizes.

While sample preparation had to traditionally be done in a laboratory because of the need for complex tools, MicroGEM’s vision is to enable sample preparation and nucleic acid extraction out of the lab. For this reason, the company developed a portable device called the  PDQeX Nucleic Acid Extractor, which can be integrated into an existing lab’s workflow or outside the laboratory.

MicroGEM is democratizing molecular biology by developing devices that will allow anyone, whether researcher or layperson, to tackle complex biological problems such as measuring gene expression, detecting specific viruses, or authenticating food attributes or components.”

Check out the full Labiotech article here.

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