Invitrogen Launches New Spin Column Format for ChargeSwitch® Nucleic Acid Purification Technology

Invitrogen Corporation, a leader in life science research, today announced the release of ChargeSwitch®-Pro Plasmid Miniprep kits. The kits apply ChargeSwitch® Technology, the latest generation in nucleic acid purification chemistry, into the popular spin column format.

This development represents the third format available for the ChargeSwitch® Technology platform and further extends the available handling options.

ChargeSwitch® Technology was specifically developed to address the limitations of current purification technologies and is the only sample preparation method that does not use ethanol or chaotropic salts, two reagents that are known to inhibit enzymatic reactions and present storage, shipping, and handling challenges. Eliminating ethanol and chaotropic salts from the purification process means DNA and RNA stay in solution throughout the entire purification process and exhibit improved activity in subsequent reactions. In addition, the purification protocols are simpler and easier to implement. ChargeSwitch® Technology has been developed for applications requiring fast and easy preparation of highly pure DNA and RNA.

"Invitrogen has created what we consider to be the most technologically comprehensive offering of nucleic acid purification solutions in the industry," said John DeMartino, Nucleic Acid Purification and Quantitation Business Area Manager at Invitrogen. "Since the release of TRIzol in 1993, which rapidly became the method of choice for RNA purification, Invitrogen has introduced a number of new technologies used to purify DNA and RNA with the goal of enhancing the performance of many leading Invitrogen brands such as SuperScript™ Reverse Transcriptase, Lipofectamine™ 2000, TOPO TA Cloning® Kits and more. With our continued research and development focus on ChargeSwitch®, we are very excited to be extending our leadership position, and delighting our customers, with the newest generation of sample preparation technologies."

With the acquisition of DNA Research Innovations (DRI) in October 2004, Invitrogen added the ChargeSwitch® Technology platform to its portfolio. The first version of the technology was available on the surface of magnetic beads, which are ideal for automation and high throughput applications. The second generation, ChargeSwitch® EasyPlex™, launched in April 2006 and consists of ChargeSwitch®-coated microtiter plates. ChargeSwitch® EasyPlex™ offers significant productivity improvements by incorporating purification and the subsequent enzymatic reaction into a single well. The launch of ChargeSwitch®-Pro Plasmid Miniprep Kit represents the third-generation format, and makes ChargeSwitch® available in the familiar spin column format that is easy to adopt into existing protocols.

"ChargeSwitch®-Pro and EasyPlex™ illustrate our focus in creating significant value from our investment in DRI, and represent our ongoing success with commercializing this unique technology," said Kip Miller, Senior Vice President of Invitrogen's BioDiscovery business. "ChargeSwitch® Technology has the potential to become the global method of choice for nucleic acid purification, and by extending it to new formats, we hope to facilitate its rapid adoption. This product is one in a long line from Invitrogen designed to optimize molecular biology applications which are being used to speed disease research and improve the human condition."