Common PCR Platform for Molecular Diagnostic Testing

Molecular tests generate precise information for patient management. They are used to guide disease prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy. Most molecular tests are laboratory developed tests (LDT) based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR). However, most PCR-LDTs are developed in individual laboratories without coordination between developers. It’s common for various PCR-LDTs to be performed under different amplification conditions. Consequently, each test must be performed individually (i.e., only one test of a given type can be run on any given PCR machine at any given time) which results in inefficiencies and additional costs.

Researchers at Saint Louis University have developed technology that enables a single PCR machine to run multiple kinds of LDTs at the same time. This enables laboratories to batch LDTs to increase capacity and throughput. This technology is applicable for tumor point mutation and short insertion?deletion detection, inherited disease genotyping, fusion oncogene quantitation, and microorganism detection and quantitation.

Benefits

The potential benefits of this technology include

• Increase the testing capacity of laboratories
• Increase the number of tests that laboratories can offer
• Minimize the time it takes to perform tests

Applications

This technology has potential application for molecular testing using laboratory developed tests (LDT) based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Additional Details