Akonni Biosystems Expands Family of TruTip Extraction Products for Hamilton Microlab STAR Line of Liquid Handling Workstations

Akonni Biosystems today announced it has extended its family of “smart-tip” extraction products for rapidly purifying human genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (gDNA) on the Hamilton Microlab® STAR™ line of robotic liquid handling workstations. The first product in the family of gDNA kits provides laboratory technicians with the ability to process up to 300 µL of fresh or frozen whole blood.  This kit now has the added capability to be used to process other sample types including buffy coat, tissue, buccal swabs and cells.  For all sample types, this kit delivers superior quality gDNA simultaneously from eight to 96 samples in less than 60 minutes.

The second TruTip® gDNA kit now available supports the extraction and concentration of gDNA for up to 400 µL of saliva collected using Oragene® DISCOVER Collection Kit from DNA Genotek, Inc., a subsidiary of OraSure Technologies, Inc. Given the non-invasive nature of collecting gDNA from saliva samples compared to blood, this sample type is commonly used for very large-scale genetic studies, such as for breast cancer research.

TruTip extraction kits running on Hamilton Microlab STAR system do not require a magnetic head, vacuum manifold, centrifuge, or other space-consuming or expensive capital equipment. Both TruTip gDNA Kits can be used with a variety of backend analytical tools, including qPCR, real time PCR, digital PCR, microarrays, and mid-multiplex bead-based systems, as well as traditional and next-generation sequencing systems.

“The Akonni TruTip line of products are simple to use with our workstations and save our customers time while ensuring reliable results by reducing the amount of hands-on steps to extract gDNA prior to performing complex analytics,” said Bobby Chavli, Associate Director of Marketing and Business Development at Hamilton Robotics. “It is terrific to see a rapid succession of new “smart-tips” to match our customer’s requirements.”

“TruTip is an industry-first smart consumable for sample preparation created specifically to reduce bottlenecks in high-throughput genetic testing. By adding the ability to extract DNA from tissue, cells and saliva, we now have wide coverage across the sample types most commonly used for downstream genetic-based research,” states Kevin Banks, Ph.D., Vice President Strategic Development at Akonni Biosystems. Banks adds, “We are excited to continue expanding our TruTip line of products running on liquid handing workstations manufactured by Hamilton Robotics, as these systems are universally recognized as being the most reliable and highest performing in the industry.”