MAGBIO Genomics makes automation friendly RNA purification chemistry for Mawi iSWAB-RNA-v2

HAYWARD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Africa–Mawi DNA Technologies, a biotechnology company focusing on the development of innovative technologies for biosampling, announces that MAGBIO Genomics has successfully developed the HighPrep Total RNA Plus Kit, an automation friendly RNA purification chemistry for Mawi’s RNA collection product iSWAB-RNA-v2.

Maintaining RNA stability and protecting it from degradation is a significant challenge. Current RNA collection and stabilization methods require invasive collection of whole blood in specialized tubes. This results in low compliance and lack of accessibility to a larger pool of samples across the globe. In addition, RNA integrity in blood within these specialized tubes is short lived at room temperature, unless the tubes are received by the lab within two to three days and then frozen at -80C. This limitation forces labs to invest in cold storage infrastructure or commit resources to immediate sample processing. Other options for non-invasive collection also suffer from short shelf life storage, as well as low quality and unusable RNA, especially for RNAseq based applications.

iSWAB-RNA-v2 enables noninvasive collection, concentration and stabilization of intact buccal cells and/or any mammalian cells collected with a swab or cytobrush. This allows up to four weeks of ambient total RNA stabilization from the point of collection to processing. The high quality RNA collected with iSWAB-RNA-v2 is especially compatible with gene expression applications such as real time quantitative PCR, reverse transcription PCR, microarrays, Northern blot analysis, nuclease protection assays, cDNA library construction and RNA-seq.

When RNA from iSWAB-RNA-v2 is isolated using an MAGBIO HighPrep Total RNA Plus Kit, high quality RNA with yields ranging from 1-4 µg/sample is achieved. iSWAB and HighPrep Total RNA Plus Kit can be fully automated on well known industry platforms such as the Hamilton MicroLabStar, enabling plug-and-play high throughput RNA analysis.

“Our fellow researchers have been looking for an effective alternative to blood in the form of an efficient non-invasive collection method that maintains RNA integrity especially during long transit times. They now can achieve this with iSWAB-RNA-v2. MAGBIO Genomics’ mission is making the NGS workflow better. So, we developed automation friendly RNA isolation from iSWAB-RNA-v2 samples using our HighPrep™ Total RNA Plus Kit,” said Dr. Hyacinth Ntchobo, CEO, MAGBIO Genomics. “Using Mawi’s collection technology and MAGBIO’s purification chemistry provides a seamless workflow for purifying high-quality RNA for demanding downstream applications.”

“Collaborating with MAGBIO Genomics to optimize its RNA extraction from iSWAB-RNA-v2 with the HighPrep™ Total RNA Plus Kit, was no brainer for us, especially because it provided a great option for our high throughput customers,” said Dr. Bassam El-Fahmawi, President and CTO, Mawi DNA Technologies. “Partnerships with leaders in nucleic acid purification chemistries with a global presence such as MAGBIO Genomics are increasing worldwide access of our sample collection technologies. This in turn improves our understanding of health and wellness at a global rather than at a regional level.” Dr. El-Fahmawi said that due to increased sample sizes in cohort genetic population studies, there is an increasing need for automated RNA purification solutions. The MAGBIO HighPrep Total RNA Plus Kit simplifies this research step which can be a labor intensive process.