Quantitative PCR
Quantitative PCR is a powerful, highly sensitive technique that can be used to quantitate gene expression, determine gene copy number, detect SNPs, and detect DNA from viral and bacterial microorganisms.
AROS’s Q-PCR Service uses the very sensitive, accurate and reproducible quantitative PCR technique to measure the levels of gene expression by a Relative Quantitation approach. This application is typically used to validate data coming from array-based experiments, or to compare the RNA levels between two or more different systems.
SNP analysis is based on Assays-on-Demand from Applied Biosystems, which is a highly flexible technology for detection of SNPs. More than 160,000 validated assays, 30,000 gene-coding-region assays, and approximately 1.8 million pre-designed, genome-wide assays may be selected from a library of human assays; on top of this, custom SNP Genotyping Assays can be created for any genome (Assays-by-Design).
AROS utilizes the Applied Biosystems 7900HT platform and Fluidigm’s Biomark system to perform Q-PCR experiments. We support SYBR Green, Exiqon and TaqMan reaction chemistries. With Exiqon / TaqMan chemistries, a labeled probe is included in the reaction to enhance the specificity and sensitivity of target sequence detection. With SYBR Green chemistry, amplified product is detected by its interaction with the SYBR Green fluorescent dye, which selectively binds to double-stranded DNA templates (SYBR Green chemistry is less expensive, but generally requires more effort to optimize reactions). Although the Exiqon and TaqMan chemistries are more expensive, they generally provide better specificity without the need for extensive optimization. We also offer primer and probe design services.