The new absolute in PCR – Digital PCR

Finding a needle in a haystack

Researchers performing sensitive applications such as copy number variation and rare target detection often find themselves struggling to identify faint genetic signals against a strong background, especially when it is a single positive lost in a dense pool of negatives. Finding the rare allele or mutant sequence is a typical needle in a haystack problem! Digital PCR (dPCR) is a technique where the sample is partitioned into a large number of individual reactions. This approach makes it surprisingly easy to detect the single positive. It is in such instances where the lower limit of detection excludes standard real-time quantitative PCR as a viable solution.

At QIAGEN, our mission is to empower you with everything you need to overcome challenges in real-time and digital PCR research applications. In the end, finding a needle in a haystack might not remain as challenging as it sounds.

Advantages over droplet digital PCR technology

The nanoplate-based technology offers significant benefits over digital droplet PCR (ddPCR). These include:

• Fixed partitions prevent variation in size and coalescence
• Sealed nanoplates prevent well to well contamination
• Faster readout possible due to simultaneous reading of all partitions of a sample
• User-friendly, familiar plates are easy to pipet just like for qPCR
• Plates are amenable to front-end automation

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