Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR)

The therapeutic potential of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics has an unprecedented ability to target previously undruggable diseases. The poly(A) tail drives the therapeutic efficacy of the mRNA molecule. Using Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) technology to analyze poly(A) tail length and integrity yields unrivaled sensitivity, enabling developers to ensure high poly(A) tail integrity and, ultimately, functional therapeutic mRNAs.

Lentiviral vectors (LVVs) have become the primary method of gene delivery for cells ex vivo in both academic and clinical applications. Currently, qPCR is the gold standard for functional titering of LVVs, but Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) offers an attractive alternative due to its inherent benefits, such as absolute quantification without the use of a standard curve and enhanced resistance to PCR inhibitors.

The realm of druggable targets has expanded significantly with the advent of mRNA therapeutics. Scientists require exceptional accuracy and confidence to adequately characterize these therapeutics and their anticipated effects. To this end, Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) technology has proven invaluable. With unparalleled precision and absolute quantification, Droplet Digital PCR is revolutionizing the field of mRNA therapeutic development and manufacturing.

Historically, five-year survival rates have been used to evaluate cancer therapeutic effectiveness in clinical trials. But time is critical for research — and for patients. Fortunately, there is a promising method for evaluating cancer therapeutic effectiveness that could potentially offer prognostic insights after just one year. Noninvasive liquid biopsy analysis, including analysis of circulating tumor DNA, is improving researchers’ ability to detect clinical responses more rapidly.

As SARS-CoV-2 becomes an endemic agent worldwide, communities and health agencies must figure out how to identify novel variants and track infection rates in ways that are sustainable, sensitive, and accurate. Fortunately, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has proven its ability to play an important role in monitoring COVID-19 outbreaks, and Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) has become a cornerstone method for ongoing wastewater-based disease surveillance. In this article, we review the role of wastewater-based testing in community health before, during, and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, and we explore why ddPCR technology is ideally suited for this application as it continues to expand and evolve.

Cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide. However, as cancer treatments continue to improve and diagnoses happen sooner, more and more patients are experiencing remission. To further increase survival rates and reduce unnecessary treatment, scientists and clinicians are turning to ultra-sensitive molecular analysis to inform treatment decisions and predict and detect relapse.

Inadequate quality control assays shouldn’t limit cell and gene therapy applications. Instead, quantifying the potency of cell and gene therapies is essential for successful therapeutics. In this article, we describe multiple leading potency assays developed using Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) technology, including an assay that quantifies transgene integration and expression in one step.

Gene editing is only useful if it’s successful. Read how scientists are leveraging the unparalleled accuracy and specificity of ddPCR technology to optimize quality control in gene editing projects, including HIV detection and CAR-T cell generation.

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, trends point to a transition for the SARS-CoV-2 virus into an endemic agent. As major surveillance infrastructure scales back, it will be critical to maintain a cost-effective, simple, and rapid strategy for detecting and monitoring the spread of new variants. The key to such a strategy? Wastewater, where all disease agents leave their unique signature.

Wastewater-based epidemiology indirectly monitors infection rates in a community based on pathogen levels in local wastewater. Because symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals shed viral RNA in sewer systems, analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage networks can provide information about SARS-CoV-2 infections within the community. However, the accuracy of these data depends on the quality of the wastewater testing method. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Droplet Digital PCR has proven that it has the sensitivity needed to detect outbreaks and monitor SARS-CoV-2 variants in communities via wastewater testing.