Courtesy of Bio-Rad Laboratories
In less than three decades, the polymerase chain reaction has evolved from a slow, labor-intensive practice that was initially performed manually and only by the initiated few, to a fast, powerful, easy-to-use tool found in life science laboratories everywhere. With the introduction of real-time thermocyclers in the late-1990s, the technology has become more versatile as well.
Real-time, or quantitative PCR (qPCR) allows experimenters to monitor PCR quantitatively as it progresses, providing the means to accurately detect and measure starting sample sizes or gene expression levels. Traditional PCR, on the other hand, provides an end product whose quantity is generally unrelated to the amount of starting material.
Most of the industry representatives interviewed for this article agree that one of the key features of recent growth in PCR technology has been the increasing availability and development of real-time instruments. In 2001 the US and European markets for ...
