Preventing Contamination in PCR Reactions

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), the amplification of DNA, is an established process used in molecular biology. PCR technology has made strides in medical and infectious disease diagnoses, forensics and research applications. Decisions about treatment options and clinical efficacy are often based on DNA and RNA analysis of patient cells. Ensuring proper contamination control guarantees that clinicians get the best possible results.

DNA photoDNA polymerase and PCR assays are highly susceptible to contamination. Given that PCR is used in many clinical diagnostic applications with multiple patient samples on the same plate, contamination can be carried through across thousands and millions of DNA sequence copies. If a contaminant is introduced early in the reaction, then the error is

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