Biomatrica's RNAstable Stabilizes RNA At Room Temperature

San Diego - Biomatrica, the biostability company that offers innovative technologies for stabilizing biological samples at room temperature, has introduced RNAstable(TM) for preserving RNA at room temperature, eliminating the need for cold storage and shipping.

Interest in RNA has skyrocketed over the past years due to its role as a gene silencer and in gene expression studies. However, RNA samples are difficult to work with given their highly labile nature and tendency to degrade even in cold storage. Exposure to slightly elevated temperatures for even short time periods can compromise RNA integrity and detrimentally affect downstream assays.

Biomatrica's RNAstable utilizes technology that forms a thermo-stable barrier, securely "shrink-wrapping" RNA samples to protect them from degradation. To store their RNA, researchers simply need to pipette their samples directly into a tube or well of RNAstable and let dry. Sample recovery requires just adding water; there is no further purification involved.

RNAstable preserves RNA at room temperature for up to five months and has demonstrated an equivalent of three and a half years stability under accelerated aging conditions. In side-by-side comparisons, RNAstable is better at preventing degradation than freezer storage. Furthermore, RNA samples recovered following stabilization in RNAstable can be used directly in applications such as qRT-PCR, bioanalyzer and microarray analysis, end-point PCR, gel analysis, cDNA synthesis and reverse transcription without inhibition or interference.

"RNA is hard to work with because it is unstable and degrades even when properly stored," said Fernando Monroy, Associate Professor at Northern Arizona University. "You are always anxious until you see the results of your experiments. RNAstable makes working with RNA much easier, as it preserves its integrity during storage, and it has allowed my experiments to be consistently reproduced."

Scientists can now store their RNA samples with minimal effort on the bench top in a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube or 96-well plate containing RNAstable, greatly reducing reliance on costly freezer units. Biomatrica estimates that storing samples with RNAstable costs 15 times less than keeping them in freezers. Shipping samples at ambient temperature also drastically reduces transportation costs by as much as 75 percent since dry ice is not needed. Additionally, the integrity of RNA stabilized in RNAstable is protected against fluctuating and inconsistent temperatures during shipping.

SOURCE: Biomatrica, Inc.