Arcis Biotechnology and Opentrons Sign Distribution Agreement

Arcis Biotechnology, the nucleic acid sample preparation solution provider, has announced it has signed a commercial distribution agreement with Opentrons. The agreement allows Opentrons to directly distribute Arcis’ sample preparation kits to laboratories globally, providing scientists with a complete, accessible and automated solution for high throughput RNA/DNA preservation and preparation.

Arcis’ two-step, rapid nucleic acid extraction and preservation technology enables researchers to work with a wide range of samples to prepare RNA and DNA for downstream analysis in under three minutes, without the use of beads, spin columns, harsh solvents or heat-to-prepare samples. Under the terms of the agreement, Arcis’ novel product portfolio will be made available on the Opentrons OT-2 platform, an affordable lab robot with integrated electronic pipettes, designed to make automating lab protocols accessible to more laboratories. The collaboration provides researchers with an automated and high-throughput solution for sample preparation workflows.

Peter Whitehurst, Chief Executive Officer, Arcis Biotechnology, said: "After receiving feedback from scientists wanting to use Arcis reagents to process even more samples, we are proud to demonstrate automated and affordable solutions for RNA and DNA sample preparation for a breadth of applications.” He added: “We look forward to working with Opentrons, a partner with both a powerful engineering team and a customer-centric commercial approach.”

Will Canine, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Opentrons, commented: “Arcis’ reagent-only solution is a compelling offering for biologists, but when you automate that protocol, it offers a high-throughput sample preparation workflow for every molecular biology laboratory. This collaboration with Arcis demonstrates our commitment to support scientists’ day-to-day workflow and to ultimately speed up scientific discovery.”

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