Purigen Biosystems, a leading provider of next-generation technologies for extracting and purifying nucleic acids from biological samples announced the launch of the Ionic Cells to Pure DNA Kit. The new kit has been optimized to allow users of the Ionic Purification System to extract increased yields of high-quality DNA from white blood cells (WBCs), peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and cultured or sorted cells.

The new Ionic Cells to Pure DNA Kit was developed to support Purigen’s existing customers who perform work with FFPE tumour tissue and use blood cells as a control, though it can be used for a broad array of applications. The kit supports the extraction of high yields of DNA from samples containing 50,000 to 5 million cells and produces consistently higher DNA concentrations than traditional technologies. This workflow minimizes the need for sample concentration prior to downstream analysis techniques such as next-generation sequencing. The Ionic Cells to Pure DNA Kit can also be used to analyze immune cells, archive DNA for biobanks, and enable molecular profiling of cultured and FACS sorted cells.

“We are excited to offer the new Ionic Cells to Pure DNA Kit, which was developed based on direct feedback from our customers,” said Chris Grimley, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Purigen. “This kit extends the workflow and performance advantages of the Ionic Purification System to cells, enabling scientists to expand their use of Ionic beyond FFPE tissue and perform comparison studies with normal WBC or PBMC control samples, all on a single platform.”

The Ionic Cells to Pure DNA Kit utilizes Purigen’s Ionic Purification System, a benchtop instrument that allows for the automated extraction of pure and abundant nucleic acids from a wide range of sample types, including fresh, frozen, and FFPE tissue. These biological samples are gently lysed and loaded into an Ionic® Fluidic Chip. The Ionic System uses the company’s innovative isotachophoresis (ITP) technology to apply an electric field to the chip, which isolates nucleic acids in their native form. Since the nucleic acids are not denatured or dehydrated, nor are they bound and stripped from fixed surfaces, the process minimizes fragmentation and eliminates bead or buffer contamination.

The Ionic Cells to Pure DNA Kit consists of six chips and a reagent set with all necessary enzymes and buffers to perform DNA extraction from 48 samples.