Hi All
I thought you might be interested in this LAMP kit in Argentina using a local DNA polymerase from Salta:
In Spanish via the link above and Google translation to English below.
Has anyone else been using novel local polymerases or enzymes?
Jenny
ELA is a technology whose development was led by Marcos Bilen, researcher at the National University of Quilmes (UNQ) and founding partner of the technological SME PB-L, which is in the process of obtaining its patent. It consists of the multiplication of a DNA sample, through the action of a polymerase (enzyme), which acts at a constant temperature of 60 °. ELA improves the performance of LAMP isothermal amplification, developed in 2000 by Japanese researchers.
“We developed the ‘Easy Loop Amplification (ELA)’ technology, from a bacterium that we discovered in natural springs of hot springs in northern Argentina. We collected samples around 2002 when I had just finished my degree in biotechnology. We kept them frozen in a freezer until 2012, when the conditions for research improved, ”Bilen introduces.
“In 2012 I was already a researcher and we had PB-L in operation, incubated at UNQ. In conjunction with PB-L, Julian Bergier (CONICET doctoral fellow), Cristina Borio (CONICET researcher), and Daniel Ghiringhelli (CONICET researcher), we thawed the bacteria, isolated and purified the polymerase. On the one hand, we introduced modifications and improvements through genetic engineering to make an optimized enzyme with the ability to exponentially amplify DNA fragments. On the other hand, we introduced a component to the system, which provides it with high specificity. In other words, we managed to introduce several improvements in LAMP technology from a lot of work and a bacterium from the north of our country ”, explains Bilen. “This performance of ELA technology is a key to the speed and sensitivity of the ELA-CHEMSTRIP test.