New Haven, CT August 13, 2001-- Molecular Staging Inc., today announced that, together with Amersham Pharmacia Bio-tech, the two companies have developed a simple method of using Rolling Circle Amplification to copy circular DNA for sequencing, 10,000 fold in a few hours. “This procedure, which removes the need for lengthy growth periods and traditional DNA isolation procedures, will deliver operational efficiency gains for DNA sequencing centers and genomics companies” said Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, COO of Molecular Staging Inc. The method is very simple, involving only a few steps, namely heat lysis of the organism containing the DNA of interest and an isothermal amplification step. (more...)

The Anglo-Swedish company Amersham Pharmacia Biotech has signed an exclusive deal to develop a rival technology to PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), which has become one of the fundamental tools of molecular biology. PCR was invented by Californian scientist Kary Mullis, and won him a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1993. (more...)