oKtopure Automated DNA Extraction Platform from LGC Genomics Drives Efficiency in Genomics Research

LGC is pleased to announce the release of a new automated nucleic acid extraction platform - oKtopure™ – which will drive significant increases in throughput and productivity while enabling reductions in consumable costs of up to 50%.

The new oKtopure™ DNA extraction platform combines higher throughput with high quality DNA extractions and is capable of processing eight 96-well microtitre plates in approximately one-and-a-half hours. The oKtopure is compatible with all existing laboratory systems, including LGC’s SNPline™ for high throughput KASP™ genotyping. In addition, the ability to use oKtopure™ in combination with a tip wash station enables a reduction in customers’ consumable costs through the reuse of tips in 40 consecutive extractions.

Initial validation work has focused on extraction of DNA from plant material and the instrument has been developed to run extraction using the LGC Genomics proprietary sbeadex® mag bead based chemistry, which can be adapted to deliver high quality DNA from virtually any plant species.

Dr. Dietrich Koester Nucleic Acid Purification Product Manager said, “The oKtopure™ platform is an important addition to our nucleic acid preparation range. The increased throughput combined with the savings available through the tip wash system will drive significant benefit for our plant biotechnology customers and collaborators worldwide.”

The oKtopure™ robot combines magnetic particle separation technology with liquid handling capability based on the repliKator™ DNA stamping robot launched by LGC Genomics in 2012.

Giulio Cerroni, Managing Director at LGC Genomics added, “We are delighted to have the oKtopure™ platform ready for use in our customers’ laboratories. As with all our instrumentation these robots have been developed to meet increased throughput needs initially identified in our own laboratories and we are delighted with the increases in efficiency they deliver. The oKtopure™ is an exciting expansion of our DNA extraction portfolio and we are looking forward with great anticipation to the launch of other platforms later this year. Although initially for plant-based extractions, we see tremendous opportunity to expand the range of matrices validated with our new extraction platforms to a wide range of other matrices and areas of research. These instruments will enable our customers undertaking research in a wide variety of genomics applications to increase throughput and drive cost – efficiencies that will generate even greater value for their research dollars.”

The new-model oKtopure™ will be further complemented by the launch of an extended range of automated and semi-automated DNA extraction platforms which will be released by LGC Genomics in 2013.