[November 10, 2014]

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Selects Kapa Biosystems Reagents to Assess Quantity and Quality of FFPE DNA for Translational Cancer Research Applications

Kapa Biosystems announced today that the Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system has selected the KAPA hgDNA Quantification and QC Kit to assess the quality of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor samples prior to targeted amplicon next-generation sequencing (NGS). The team determined that the KAPA kit is able to accurately predict sequencing performance and can be utilized as a quality control tool in clinical cancer research applications to better inform sample preparation workflows and minimize unnecessary costs. Researchers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock will present recent data demonstrating these findings during the upcoming Association for Molecular Pathology 2014 Annual Meeting.

The KAPA hgDNA Quantification and QC Kit is a qPCR-based assay used to assess the quantity and quality of FFPE material prior to NGS sample preparation in translational research workflows. The assay generates a sample quality score (or "Q-ratio"), which provides a metric for assessing the quality of DNA input that correlates to sequencing success. As part of an extensive four month evaluation process that involved more than 50 degraded FFPE samples from breast, colon, lung, and glioma samples, the research team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock used the KAPA hgDNA Quantification and QC Kit to establish a Q-ratio to help identify the FFPE samples that would yield optimal results for targeted amplicon sequencing applications using cancer hotspot and comprehensive cancer panels. The KAPA hgDNA Quantification and QC Kit is compatible for whole-genome, whole-exome and targeted sequencing applications across all Illumina and Ion Torrent NGS platforms.

"Clinical research applications that utilize next-generation sequencing to identify clinically actionable genomic alterations require fast turnaround time, minimized cost, and reproducible results," said Greg J. Tsongalis, Ph.D., Co-director of the Pathology Translational Research Program serving Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, and researchers at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. "High-quality QC steps are essential in these types of workflows and we found the KAPA kit to be the most robust soution for screening for both quantity and quality of sample material. We can now reliably assess the quality of these often degraded samples and make more informed decisions on how to process these samples while maximizing our sequencing capacity."

"This project run at Dartmouth-Hitchcock is another strong validation of the performance of our products and the value of sample QC in translational sequencing workflows," said Brian Komorous, Marketing Director at Kapa Biosystems. "Kapa is committed to providing versatile, streamlined tools that enable our customers to achieve higher-quality results by determining how a sample will perform before committing valuable time, money and personnel resources to additional processing. We are looking forward to working with Greg and his team as they continue to push the boundaries of cancer genomics research."

Association for Molecular Pathology Annual Meeting 2014

Kapa Biosystems is showcasing its portfolio of high-performance reagents for use in PCR (News - Alert), qPCR, next-generation sequencing, and molecular diagnostics applications at the AMP annual meeting in National Harbor, MD at booth #913. Many of the products are optimized for challenging samples and high-throughput workflows, and include pre-validated scripts using the leading liquid handling automation platforms. Researchers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock will present recent data during the company's corporate workshop on Wednesday, November 12th from 4:00 - 5:00pm in National Harbor Room 10 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. In addition, users will present posters highlighting Kapa product performance and new applications. For more information on the company's AMP activities, please visit: www.kapabiosystems.com/company/events/event/amp-2014.

About Dartmouth-Hitchcock

Dartmouth-Hitchcock is an academic health system, serving patients across New England. A national leader in patient-centered health care, D-H is on a path to create a sustainable health system for the region and to become a model for the nation. Founded in 1893 as Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock system includes New Hampshire's only Level 1 trauma center and its only air ambulance service, as well as the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, one of 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the state's only Children's Hospital Association-approved, comprehensive, full-service children's hospital. Dartmouth-Hitchcock provides access to nearly 1,500 primary care doctors and specialists in almost every area of medicine, as well as world-class research with the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

About Kapa Biosystems

Kapa Biosystems is a life science reagents supplier that employs proprietary, directed evolution technologies to optimize enzymes for PCR, real-time PCR, next-generation sequencing and molecular diagnostic applications. Kapa Biosystems offers a portfolio of best-in-class products containing novel enzymes that confer significant performance advantages when compared to traditional wild-type enzymes. The company is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts with a research, development, and manufacturing facility in Cape Town, South Africa. For more information, please visit www.kapabiosystems.com.

KAPA is a trademark of Kapa Biosystems. All other product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Kapa Biosystems' products are for Research Use Only; not for use in diagnostic procedures.

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