Acquisition of RNA/DNA extraction technology by Biotium

Biotium, a supplier of cutting-edge life science reagents, has announcing the acquisition of Cell Data Sciences RNAstorm and DNAstorm kits for RNA/DNA extraction.

Biotium, which previously distributed the Cell Data Sciences kits, will now be their sole manufacturer. The extraction kits will be offered from the Biotium website and authorised distributors.

Cell Data Sciences developed RNAstorm and DNAstorm FFPE extraction kits based on research initiated at Stanford University. The kits feature a novel CAT5 catalytic technology for enzymatic reversal of formaldehyde crosslinking in FFPE tissue samples. This revolutionary technology offers higher yields of amplifiable nucleic acids from formalin-fixed samples compared to leading competitors’ kits. The increased yields of higher quality RNA/DNA allow for more robust results in downstream applications such as next-generation sequencing (NGS), RT-PCR and microarrays.

All RNAstorm and DNAstorm kits will continue to use the Cell Data Sciences’ catalogue numbers with revised product names. Biotium will also continue to offer the RNAstorm RNA extraction kit for fresh cells and tissues. This simple spin column-based RNA extraction kit offers higher yields than leading competitor kits (up to 120 µg RNA) from fresh cells and tissues in as little as 20 minutes. For customers who wish to extract DNA and RNA from the same FFPE sample, Biotium will offer a combination of both the DNAstorm and RNAstorm FFPE extraction kits at a discounted price when compared to purchasing each kit separately.

With this acquisition, Biotium grows its portfolio of technologies and products for molecular biology research. For RNA workflows,

www.biotium.com.