Courtesy of TrimGen
If you are not lucky enough to have a restriction enzyme site in your mutation-of-interest, chances are you have had to fall back on sequencing to detect it. But this time-consuming method of detecting mutations could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new technology called Mutector from Sparks, Md.-based TrimGen
According to marketing manager Brad Oswald, Mutector eliminates false positives and negatives and produces results in 2–3 hours, compared with the 6–8 hours required for sequencing. And at around $4 per test, it is less expensive than sending DNA out to a sequencing facility.
"We really like the technology," says David Sidransky, director of head and neck cancer research at Johns Hopkins University; he has been using Mutector to detect BRAF gene mutations in biopsy specimens of suspected thyroid tumors. "This technique is not only accurate, it is also quick, efficient, and cheaper ...
