FAQ-304
What kits does QIAGEN offer to extract RNA from whole blood?
Several kit options are available for this application. We recommend using the PAXgene Blood RNA System, which enables the collection, stabilization and transportation of 2.5 ml human whole blood samples, and subsequent rapid and efficient isolation of cellular RNA.
Other products for the isolation of RNA from whole human blood are the QIAamp RNA Blood Mini Kit and the RNeasy Midi Kit for processing up to 1.5 ml and 10 ml human whole blood, respectively.
Related products
PAXgene 96 Blood RNA Kit
The PAXgene 96 Blood RNA Kit is for high-throughput purification of cellular RNA in a manual format. Used with PAXgene Blood RNA Tubes (available from BD, cat. no. 762165) for sample collection and stabilization, the system provides a complete preanalytical solution for collection and stabilization through to purification of high-quality RNA to support high-throughput projects, such as clinical research studies.
RNeasy Kits
RNeasy Kits are the gold standard for total RNA isolation. They provide fast purification of high-quality RNA from small to large amounts of cells, tissues, and yeast using silica membrane RNeasy spin columns or 96-well plates. Tissue samples can be conveniently stabilized using RNAprotect Tissue Reagent or Allprotect Tissue Reagent, and efficiently disrupted using a TissueRuptor II or TissueLyser II or LT system. The RNeasy 96 Kit enables high-throughput purification of total RNA from up to 96 cultured cell samples using silica membrane RNeasy 96 plates. A dedicated RNeasy QIAcube Kit enables automated purification of 1–12 samples on the QIAcube Connect.
QIAamp RNA Blood Mini Kit
The QIAamp RNA Blood Mini Kit provides silica-membrane-based purification of cellular RNA from up to 1.5 ml of fresh, whole human blood stabilized with any common anticoagulant, such as citrate, heparin, or EDTA. After homogenization using the QIAshredder spin column, a fast spin-column procedure simplifies RNA purification. Purification can be fully automated on the QIAcube Connect.
QIAwave RNA Mini Kit
The QIAwave RNA Mini Kit is an eco-friendlier version of our standard RNeasy Mini Kit. The kit uses up to 60% less plastic and up to 57% less cardboard than our standard kit and offers waste tubes made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic that you can reuse throughout the procedure. QIAwave buffers also come as concentrates, reducing the amount of plastic by up to 90% per bottle. To save paper, there are no printed protocols in the kit. Instead, you can download the protocols you need from the resources list or by simply scanning the QR code inside the box lid. So, while the kit packaging and components of our QIAwave Kit may look different, it’s as easy to use as the RNeasy Mini Kit, and the chemistry and performance are identical.
Please be aware that you will need sterile glass bottles to store the reconstituted buffers.
In partnership with My Green Lab, we've also assessed the environmental impact of this kit. My Green Lab ACT (accountability, consistency, and transparency) environmental impact factor labels are designed to evaluate and score products on several sustainability criteria. These include:
Manufacturing
Responsible chemical management
Sustainable content within products and packaging materials
Disposal of the packaging at the end of life
Products are scored from 1 to 10 except for energy and water consumption, which are scored as 1 point per kWh or gallon, respectively. A low score means a lower environmental impact (see figures "QIAwave RNA Mini Kit ACT environmental impact factor label US 50/250, EU 50/250 and UK 50/250").
The QIAwave RNA Mini Kit offers you fast purification of high-quality RNA from cells, tissues, and yeast using silica-membrane RNeasy Mini Spin Columns. Before extraction, you can stabilize tissue samples using RNAprotect Tissue Reagent or Allprotect Tissue Reagent, and to efficiently homogenize your tissue samples, you can use the TissueRuptor II, TissueLyser III or LT system.
The QIAwave RNA Mini Kit can be automated on the QIAcube Connect using the RNeasy Mini Kit protocols.

