December 26, 2007 — Asuragen Services has announced a collection of new services to profile microRNAs (miRNAs).

The compilation of services includes a new high-sensitivity assay for Asuragen’s DiscovArray miRNA Expression Profiling Service, expansion of Asuragen’s miRInform miRNA data packaging system to support Agilent miRNA array data, the new ABI TaqMan(R)(a) Human v 1.0 miRNA Array, and a new miRNA-compatible sample prep service for PAXgene(R) blood samples.

“Asuragen continues to invest in offering the best miRNA technologies available from sample prep to data analysis, with the specialized data analysis and interpretation required for this exciting new class of RNA,” said Matt Winkler, Asuragen’s chief executive.

The DiscovArray Service, initially launched in August, uses an Affymetrix-based chip that contains greater than 13,000 candidate and Sanger miRNAs and now requires only 50-200 ng total RNA input. The increased sensitivity allows profiling even from challenging samples such as formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues.

miRInform, also launched in August, was developed at Asuragen for the normalization and delivery of miRNA data in DVD format with interactive figures that link directly to Sanger mirBase, tables, and publication ready images. miRInform is an extremely cost-effective tool for mining data from the Agilent Human miRNA Microarray without requiring third-party tools or extensive statistical training, and comes with a personal data review with a trained analyst.

After extensive qualification of the assays, Asuragen now offers all TaqMan miRNA assays, including the Human v1.0 miRNA array from Applied Biosystems (“AB”). Asuragen built standard curves for 250 of the most commonly used miRNA assays from AB to quantitatively assess these miRNAs.

Finally, Asuragen said it is the first pharmacogenomics service provider to offer a miRNA-compatible isolation service for the popular PAXgene blood collection system.