NanoString Technologies, Inc., a privately held life sciences company marketing a complete solution for detecting and counting large sets of target molecules in biological samples, today announced a unique new product for miRNA analysis that includes a multiplexed assay for profiling the human miRNA transcriptome in a single tube. The company introduced the new assay kit, which expands the applications for its nCounter® Analysis System, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.
“Combined with the gold-standard levels of sensitivity, specificity, precision, and linearity of the nCounter Analysis System, the new miRNA assay kits offers scientists a comprehensive, efficient, and cost-effective way to study these clinically important molecules.”
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules that have generated intense interest in the scientific community for their recently discovered roles in tumor formation and important biological processes. The primary application areas of miRNA studies are in cancer, neurobiology, developmental biology, and stem cell research.
The nCounter miRNA Expression Assay Kits enable researchers to perform highly multiplexed, direct digital detection and counting of miRNAs at single-base resolution, without the need for PCR amplification. NanoString's Human miRNA Expression Assay Kit enables researchers to profile more than 700 human and human-viral miRNAs with specificity and sensitivity comparable to qPCR at a fraction of the cost.
Carlo Croce, Ph.D., a leading miRNA researcher, was part of an early access program for the Human miRNA Expression Assay Kit on the nCounter Analysis System at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Nucleic Acids Shared Resource directed by Hansjuerg Alder, Ph.D.