It’s all about the process of progress.
Everyone benefits from improved techniques and products for healthcare. The universities and businesses that bring us new technologies can only advance through research. Researchers need specific tools for the important work that moves scientific discovery forward.
In the dynamic world of healthcare discovery, it’s been found there’s much to learn from the human microbiome. For the field of microbiome studies, an RNA preservation solution that effectively transports both bacterial and viral specimens is what’s needed.
So, the next step in this process is to identify the solution to conduct this research. The ideal preservation solution, or buffer, is a commercially available product that will preserve RNA for genetic analysis following storage under field or clinical conditions. As there is more than one method of analysis employed, it will be suitable for those analytical methods in common use today,
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of New England in Portland, Maine investigated the ability of two commercially available RNA preservation buffers to preserve microbial and viral RNA. Those buffers were Puritan’s PurSafe® DNA/RNA Preservative and Puritan’s Opti-Swab® Liquid Amies Collection & Transport System device.
Researchers hoped to find that samples could be collected in clinical or field conditions and stored for later genetic analysis with good results. Automated nucleic acid electrophoreses as well as reverse transcription and quantitative PCR protocols were the methods detailed in the study.
For this work, samples of E. coli and Influenza A virus were appropriately prepared. Samples of E. coli were stored in Puritan PurSafe DNA/RNA Preservative. Influenza A samples were stored in Puritan Opti-Swab medium. The samples were stored at various temperatures for varying intervals, to replicate the likely ranges under which specimens collected in the field or in a clinical setting would be stored.
The Conclusion
“Puritan Medical Product’s PurSafe® and Opti-Swab® (products are) viable collection and transport media for the storage and preservation of RNA, allowing for the qualification and quantification of RNA suitable for genetic analysis.”
Problem Solved
Puritan Medical Products Company, LLC, formulates Puritan brand media and manufactures specimen collection swabs in a fully integrated production facility in Guilford, Maine. In addition to the Puritan brand, the company is well equipped to develop and formulate custom media and swabs to address the new and evolving technologies. Puritan is proud to be a vital cog in the wheel of progress.
You can view the UNE study, presented at ASM in June of 2017, here on our site. To learn more about where to find Puritan’s PurSafe and Opti-Swab products, and all Puritan products for health care and environmental sampling, contact a sales representative today!
