Bio-Rad Laboratories, a company specializing in life science research and clinical diagnostic products, is accelerating measurable residual disease (MRD) research through more than a half dozen collaborations with institutions and companies leveraging its new QX600 Droplet Digital PCR System. Launched late last year, it boasts six color detectors capable of quantifying 12 targets per well, a simple user workflow, and powerful data analysis. Maintaining Bio-Rad’s best-in-class ddPCR technology, this platform utilizes the same droplet generation and processing protocols as the QX200 system, enabling thousands of current customers to easily adopt its advanced multiplexing capabilities.

One such collaborator is already planning ways to apply the new QX600 ddPCR System. “The QX600 is an incredibly powerful instrument,” said Gary Pestano, Ph.D., chief development officer at Biodesix, Inc., who also served as a beta tester. “We anticipate leveraging this tool for rare variant detection as a method of analyzing multiple mutations for MRD and therapeutic response testing for our blood-based oncology offerings. We also expect that this will drive the development of novel, multiplexed assays that were not possible before.”

The introduction of the QX600 ddPCR System expands the company’s family of QX platforms, which currently includes the CE Marked IVDR compliant QX200 system, the FDA-cleared QXDx system; and the high-throughput, fully automated QX ONE system.

“Combining high multiplexing power with the proven sensitivity and absolute quantification of ddPCR technology will allow us to obtain greater volumes of high-quality clinical research data without burdening patients, ultimately driving precision medicine forward,” said Boris Wong, MSc, a translational researcher at the University of Melbourne who participated in beta testing for the QX600 ddPCR System earlier this year.

“The QX200 system has been an outstanding workhorse, cited in over 6,300 publications with nearly 1,000 of those focused on oncology,” said Stephen Kulisch, vice president of marketing for Bio-Rad’s Digital Biology Group. “With the launch of the QX600 system, we’re excited to bring advanced multiplexing and unmatched sensitivity to molecular oncology investigators engaged in everything from biomarker discovery to clinical trials and patient monitoring of MRD.”

BIO-RAD,  ddPCR, Droplet Digital , QXDx, QX200 and QX600 are trademarks of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. in certain jurisdictions.