Digital PCR System

The RainDrop Digital PCR System from RainDance Technologies Inc. can generate more than a billion reactions in a single day, enabling digital answers across a number of important applications including low-frequency tumor allele detection, gene expression, copy number variation, and SNP measurement.
 
Built on the company’s RainStorm picodroplet technology, the system generates up to 10 million picoliter-sized droplets per lane. Since each droplet encapsulates a single molecule, researchers can quickly determine the absolute number of droplets containing specific target DNA and compare that to the number of droplets with background wild-type DNA. The system also uses a two color and varying probe intensity method that is capable of multiplexing up to 10 markers. 
 
In a recent Lab on a Chip paper,  scientists from Université de Strasbourg and Université Paris Descartes, used the RainDance dPCR technology to detect a single mutated copy of KRAS in a background of 200,000 wild-type copies. By processing reactions in millions of picoliter droplets, the platform improved sensitivity by two orders of magnitude compared to existing technologies.
 
RainDance Technologies Inc.