New England Biolabs Releases Lyophilized Master Mix

New England Biolabs (NEB) announced the release of its Luna Probe One-Step RT-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) Mix with uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) in February 2022. The lyophilized master mix is designed to enable sensitive, linear, real-time detection of target RNA sequences in a room temperature-stable format.

The LyoPrime Luna is the first lyophilized product manufactured by Fluorogenics since NEB purchased the company in 2021, according to a Feb. 9, 2022 press release. The product contains murine RNase inhibitor, deoxynucleoside triphosphate, and a passive reference dye. It incorporates thermolabile UDG, which is well-suited to RNA workflows, as well as deoxyuridine triphosphate to reduce carryover contamination risk between reactions.

"The launch of LyoPrime Luna Probe One-Step RT-qPCR Mix will showcase the first of many NEB lyophilized products that we hope will change the market's perception of ambient, stable molecular reagents," said Martin Lee, managing director of Fluorogenics, in the company press release. "Customers everywhere will benefit from state-of-the-art real-time PCR performance in a more flexible format that additionally reduces the environmental impact of cold shipment and storage."

When measured in NEB’s “dot in boxes” scoring method—a high-throughput data visualization tool that provides quality scores for qPCR outcomes—the LyoPrime Luna outperformed many competitor products and strongly matched the company’s liquid mix, according to the press release.

"The current worldwide focus on infectious diseases has highlighted the need for increased access to robust RNA reagents in a variety of formats,” said Nicole Nichols, associate director of applications and product development, NEB, in the press release. “By lyophilizing our Luna WarmStart RT-based product, we've achieved a one-step RT-qPCR mix that provides the same high level of performance delivered by our liquid master mix. As a standard catalog offering, this will lower barriers to a high-quality lyophilized reagent and simplify the RT-qPCR assay development process.”

Source: New England Biolabs