French Stilla Technologies launches development of high-throughput digital PCR system Naica HT and 6-color digital detection system

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Digital PCR systems are widely accepted as a common and effective life science research tool and are beginning to enter the clinical market. France's Stilla Technologies has released a high-throughput digital PCR system, Naica HT, which is four times more efficient than the new Opal chip.
In addition, the company released a six-color digital PCR detection system development program to enhance the system's detection capabilities and seek opportunities to collaborate with diagnostics and diagnostic reagent manufacturers.

Caroline Charky, vice president of business operations at Stilla, unveiled the high-throughput digital PCR system Naica HT and the new Opal chip at the February 2015 SLAS Conference (Laboratory Automation and Screening Conference), which can detect ≥240 samples per day and The conference won the NPA New Product Award.
Charky said, "Opal chips use the same microfluidic technology as the first-generation Naica system to generate droplets inside the chip. The high-throughput Naica HT platform and Opal chip increase sample size compared to the first-generation Naica system. And more competitive in terms of price."
The Naica digital PCR system consists of three parts: the Geode device includes automated droplet generation and PCR amplification steps, and PCR amplification on a self-assembled droplet array takes approximately one hour. The Prime3 microdrop reading analysis system reads three-color fluorescence and reads 12 samples in 10 minutes. Crystal Miner data analysis can automatically identify each negative-positive droplet in the three-color fluorescence and finally calculate the absolute content of the target DNA.
"The Sapphire chip used in the Naica digital PCR system is the first generation chip, capable of running 4 samples, can run 3 chips at a time, and can do ≥ 60 samples per day. However, many customers in Europe, Asia, and the United States have Qualcomm. The volume requirement, now in conjunction with the Naica HT high-throughput digital PCR system, allows 16 samples to be run simultaneously on an Opal chip of the same size as Sapphire, and 48 samples can be run in a single reaction," Charky said.
During the market research, Stilla found that some laboratories, especially food testing, and oncology applications, such as concomitant diagnosis and drug monitoring of cancer patients, and large qPCR laboratories that require digital PCR to verify negative results, have Qualcomm. The amount of demand.
The Naica HT high-throughput digital PCR system is also capable of three-color multiple reactions with five hours of experimentation per day for 2.5 hours, Charky said: “The Naica HT high-throughput digital PCR system can perform 240 sample tests per day. That is, 720 target genes can be detected."
The Opal chip has a smaller reaction volume than the Sapphire chip.
"In the Opal chip we reduced the reaction volume from 25μL to 8μL," Charky said. “You can use fewer reagents,” she said. For experiments that require more sensitivity, the Opal chip has a strategy of combining two or three closed wells with a sensitivity of 0.2copies/25μL in a 95% confidence interval. The high-throughput Naica HT digital PCR system is compatible with Sapphire chips and Opal chips. The Naica Digital PCR System can be upgraded to the high-throughput Naica HT Digital PCR System.
Aric Joneja, senior scientist in the Rapid Diagnostics Division at Abbott Laboratories, is using Stilla's Naica digital PCR system for product development. They purchased the Naica digital PCR system for droplet PCR and microdrop RT-PCR two years ago. They plan to start using Naica HT and Opal chips. Joneja believes that the Naica system has fewer manual operations, less consumables and easier operation. At the same time, Stilla has a data back-viewing function that makes it easy to perform data quality control and view raw data results. Joneja pointed out that the laboratory will certainly not have discovered that the three-color detection system also buys a two-color detection system.
In a follow-up interview, Charky pointed out that Stilla's patent is completely different from Bio-Rad. “Every part is different,” she said. “It’s a completely different technology.”
At the same time, Stilla is developing a digital PCR system for six-color detection for digital PCR detection of multiple target genes. "We are the first company in the world to develop a six-color digital PCR system," said Charky.
As previously reported, EGFR mutations were detected in three-color digital PCR in 2017, and this month, in the Journal of Oncotarget, a six-color digital PCR was used to detect non-small cell lung cancer-associated mutations, particularly EGFR gene sensitization and resistance. Mutant liquid biopsy method.
"The six-color digital PCR system is still in beta, and Stilla is expected to be released in 2020 or 2021," Charky said. "Our company, as an instrument manufacturer, is working with companies that develop and optimize reagents with Naica to develop reagents," says Charky. “A German research and development company using the Naica system is developing a digital PCR test method for GMOs. Stilla plans to work with the company to launch a complete solution, and another company based in Montpellier is developing for CE- IVD's CTC, liquid biopsy kit. The company also develops its own clinical programs," Charky said. "The products that have been developed have the final CE-IVD."

Since the release of the Naica system in 2016, the company has been in business for three years, Charky said, recently receiving financing from illumina. It is also a partner of the European Union and Royal Philips-led “Liquid Biopsy and Imaging for Cancer Care, LIMA” project.
Last year Stilla won a public tender for the 39 hospital alliances in Paris, which will complete the purchase of the Naica system within the next four years. In order to support the rapid development of the company, the company is expanding and will expand three times at the end of this year, Charky said.