Digital PCR in a microplate format: high-throughput, precise DNA quantification

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the current industry standard for quantification of DNA samples, and is used commonly in diagnostics and research. Digital PCR (dPCR) presents numerous advantages over qPCR such as increased precision and sensitivity and absolute quantification without comparison to standards. However, current digital PCR systems require complex workflows and are not easily scaleable. We have produced a prototype of an injection molded 96 sample microplate fordigital PCR. Injection molding allows the production of the microplates with excellent feature reproduction and low costs per sample. Preliminary testing has shown the microplates to be capable of outperforming qPCR in several limited applications such aslow copy number variation determination or low resolution sample quantitation. All 96 samples can be partitioned and thermocycled at once, which results in much higher throughput than any current dPCR system. Our system also features compatibility with liq