Wafergen updates on SmartChip program

The USA's WaferGen Biosystems presented positive data on the company's SmartChip Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction System alpha testing  program, at the Cambridge Healthcare Institute's International Molecular  Medicine Tri-Conference, held in San Francisco.

WaferGen reported key findings, including: the system's ability to  generate real-time PCR results in clinical samples for approximately  1,000 oncology genes in triplicate on a single chip, using small amounts  of RNA in less than three hours; a significant reduction in required  reaction volume from 25-50uL to 100nl, saving significantly on reagent  cost; establishment of the SmartChip system's equivalence in performance  to current real-time PCR standards; demonstration of key SmartChip  system workflow elements, including primer-ready SmartChips and the  drying and reconstitution of primers for rapid high-throughput 100nL  real-time PCR.

It is important to note that all of these results were achieved using  clinical biological samples from emphysema, idiopathic pulmonary  fibrosis  and healthy patients, the company notes.