TwistDx company profile

TwistDx is the provider of Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA), a new nucleic acid amplification and detection technology ideally suited to point of use applications. RPA offers single molecule detection in 10 to 15 minutes using stable lyophilised reagents. The technology is compatible with simple sample preparation and signal detection procedures, keeping the equipment burden low and making molecular testing in the field or at point of care feasible for the first time.

RPA replaces the thermal cycling regime of PCR with a rapid isothermal process, in which a recombinase enzyme pairs oligonucleotide primers to template DNA and a polymerase synthesizes daughter strands, resulting in exponential product accumulation. Using proprietary probe systems, RPA products can be detected by either real-time fluorescence measurements in suitable devices, or by end-point measurement using lateral flow strips.

RPA offers the advantages of being easy to operate using pre-formulated stable reagents, minimal sample processing depending on the matrix and the requirement for only very basic detection instrumentation. Samples can be tested in situ with results becoming available within 15 minutes of sample collection, thus obviating the time consuming and costly process of sending samples to centralised laboratories. Consequently, the RPA offers the potential to implement effective near-patient screening procedures and field application in the Veterinary, Agricultural, Food Safety and BioDefence fields, as well as in point of care molecular IVD.

TwistDx makes RPA available to researchers in the form of TwistAmpTM kits, with options for electrophoresis, fluorescent and lateral flow detection methods. TwistDx also supplies TwistFlowTM Salmonella and TwistGlowTM Salmonella, which are pre-configured RPA tests for this organism using lateral flow and fluorescent detection methods respectively.

More information is available at www.twistdx.co.uk