Instruments

Explore instruments to facilitate testing for women’s health issues, including PCR and purification systems and more. Designed for speed and accuracy and powered by leading-edge technology, these versatile benchtop and free-standing instruments can help you improve care efficiency and outcomes.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a key technique for molecular biology research and testing and is now also being developed for clinical laboratory assays. PCR is used to replicate and amplify small amounts of DNA molecules to produce an adequate quantity for research, forensics, disease diagnostics, genetic studies, and other uses.

PCR consists of three major steps: denaturation, annealing, and extension. First, using a thermal cycler, the DNA is heated to break the hydrogen bonds and create single-stranded DNA (denaturation). Primers are then added to the single strands as they cool, replicating the original double-stranded DNA (annealing). Finally, DNA polymerase extends the primers (extension), using the target DNA as a template. Thermal cyclers were developed in the 1980s to maintain and regulate temperatures using pre-determined settings to facilitate these temperature-sensitive reactions. Thermal cyclers vary in sizes, temperature ranges, programmability, and sample-holding capacities.

A variety of reagents and prepared mixtures of polymerases and primers are available for the various PCR testing systems, along with PCR microtubes, microplates, pipette tips, and other laboratory disposables.

The more common types of PCR include:

• Reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR)
• Digital PCR
• Real-time PCR
• Quantitative Real-time PCR (Q-RT-PCR)
• Hot start PCR
• High-fidelity PCR

PCR applications include:

• Analyzing clinical specimens for the presence of HIV, hepatitis, malaria, anthrax, and other pathogens
• Providing information on a patient’s prognosis and predicting response or resistance to a specific therapy
• Examining mutations found in cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, phenylketonuria, muscular dystrophy, and other genetic diseases

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic that began in 2019, PCR methods for detecting the virus were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on an emergency basis. These tests could be performed only by laboratories certified to perform CLIA high-complexity testing. Previously, PCR equipment and supplies were approved for Research Use Only (RUO) and could not be used for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) testing in clinical laboratories.