The UK genomic tools developer, RevoluGen Ltd., today announced it has secured a major order with the UK’s Quadram Institute to supply its Fire Monkey DNA extraction kits initially for a major trial in Bangladesh to study Campylobacter infections.

Quadram researchers will use RevoluGen’s Fire Monkey kits for the extraction of high-molecular weight DNA from stool samples prior to sequencing the DNA on Oxford Nanopore’s MinION platform. RevoluGen’s Fire Monkey extracts long-length DNA fragments with minimal small-fragment DNA, improving the eventual long-read sequencing of the sample.

The Quadram Institute is creating new interfaces between food science, gut biology, human health and disease, capitalising on the world-class bioscience cluster based at the Norwich Research Park. Scientists and clinicians work closely with major national and international funding bodies and charities, collaborators and investors to ensure translation of our fundamental science to benefit patients, consumers and the wider society. It makes extensive use of microbial sequencing in its research programmes.

Dr Gemma Langridge, Group Leader, Quadram Institute commented, “The longer the fragments we get in extraction, the better the assembly. The better the assembly, the easier the downstream analysis and the more biological interpretation we can make of the data (e.g. presence of plasmids, identification of genome structure, identification of antimicrobial resistance determinants). Better assemblies with longer fragments means we can get away with putting less DNA on the flowcell per sample, which increases the value per sample”

Pieter Haitsma Mulier, CEO of RevoluGen commented “The superior efficacy and accuracy of Fire Monkey, and its ability to extract longer and purer DNA than any other global competitor were deciding factors for the Quadram Institute when making this large-scale purchase. We look forward to building an ongoing relationship with them and are pleased to be able to support the Quadram Institute’s important research into infectious disease in Bangladesh and more widely.”