Invitrogen purchase strengthens DNA/RNA purification product line

Invitrogen Corporation, of Carlsbad, California, US, has acquired UK-based DNA Research Innovations (DRI).

According to the terms of the deal, Invitrogen paid US$35m in cash, and may be obliged to pay contingent payments of up to $30m based upon the completion of certain r&d milestones.

DRI develops and markets innovative products for the purification of DNA and other nucleic acids. Its patent-protected ChargeSwitch Technology (CST) is said to be versatile, works in multiple formats, produces high purity and yield, and is safe and easy-to-use. Unlike other DNA/RNA purification methods, CST does not need hazardous or caustic chemicals, which are known to compromise the efficiency of many downstream processes such as PCR.

It can be used with either DNA or RNA in a range of formats, and includes simple manual purification of a few samples as well as high throughput automated applications. It requires just three simple steps to extract nucleic acids from a wide variety of sources, including bacteria, tissues, blood, forensic sample and buccal cells. CST can be applied to many surfaces, including magnetic beads, microtiter plates, columns and cartridges and Invitrogen expects that this could result in the development of novel, tailor-made purification strategies.

'The breakthrough capabilities of our CST technology make Invitrogen a natural partner for DRI,' said Dr Simon Douglas, ceo of DRI. 'Likewise, Invitrogen has the resources to provide the marketing, distribution and technical assistance needed to make our reagent kits widely accessible to researchers around the world.'