Watch the full webinar – including Q&A – here
The latest in INDICAL’s series of education webinars covered the features and benefits of INDICAL’s IndiMag 48s instrument and prefilled cartridges and included a detailed video demonstration of the technology – from unpacking the instrument right through to completion of sample extraction.
User-friendly system
The IndiMag 48s has a compact footprint, ideal for many laboratories. Its user-friendly interface and open system mean that it comes preloaded with INDICAL extraction protocols but is flexible enough for users to develop their own protocols too. Cross-contamination can also be an issue in laboratories, which is why the IndiMag 48s comes fitted with a UV sterilization lamp, so you can be sure of complete decontamination.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of the IndiMag 48s is its compatibility with modular plastics. These come in three formats: single samples, 8 samples or 24 samples. Flexible plastics help minimize waste and help labs save on costs. For example, extracting 8 samples on a 96-well system uses multiple deep-well blocks, but on the IndiMag 48s, it’s just one 8-sample cartridge.
Publications
The IndiMag 48s and prefilled cartridges have been featured in many publications, covering diverse pathogens including African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), myxoma virus, Mycoplasma bovis, porcine rotavirus A, and Classical Swine Fever Virus (CSFV). Several of these were highlighted, including:
- Elnagar, A., et al. Swift and Reliable “Easy Lab” Methods for the Sensitive Molecular Detection of African Swine Fever Virus. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021; 22, 2307.
- Schoder, M-E., et al. Evaluation of seven commercial African swine fever virus
detection kits and three Taq polymerases on 300 well-characterized field samples. J. Virol. Methods. 2020; 280: 113874.
- Wenske, O., et al. Epidemiological analysis of porcine rotavirus A genotypes in Germany. Vet Microbiol. 2018; 214: 93.
- Wang, M., et al. A Polyuridine Insertion in the 3′ Untranslated Region of Classical Swine Fever Virus Activates Immunity and Reduces Viral Virulence in Piglets. J Virol. 2020; 94: e01214-19. (Note: In this publication, the IndiMag Pathogen Kit is known by its previous name, MagAttract cador Pathogen Kit, QIAGEN).
Expert tips
INDICAL’s experts answered some frequently encountered questions.
Will increasing my sample always improve my yield of nucleic acid? No, because the extraction system is optimized for a particular sample amount.
Adding more sample will often mean less DNA, as the chemistry is saturated and becomes less efficient.
Will increasing the volume of magnetic beads improve my yield of nucleic acid? Generally, no, again because the chemistry is optimized.
How will reducing my elution buffer effect the yield of nucleic acid? Volumes
are optimized for beads and buffer and while you may be able to decrease the
volume of elution buffer, you need to ensure that all the magnetic beads are in
contact with the buffer, so a decrease in elution volume may be counterproductive.
How will heating, mechanical, enzymatic, and chemical lysis affect my yield of nucleic acid? Having all these together is generally not beneficial, but some may be combined into the extraction process, depending on the starting sample and pathogen type. Again, less is always more when considering the extraction process. If the chemistry is good enough, you don’t need to do too much and may damage the nucleic acid.
Can I treat all sample types in the same way? The short answer is ‘no’. INDICAL’s R&D group have extensive expertise in dealing with challenging sample types and optimizing the nucleic acid extraction process. If you need support with demanding extractions, don’t hesitate to get in touch for support.
Audience Q&A
Can the instrument be used to extract high-molecular-weight DNA for long read sequencing? The IndiMag Pathogen Kit can be used for different genomic applications with customer-specific protocols and the IndiMag 48s has been successfully used for this application.
Is there a specific way to place the single sample block into the IndiMag 48s? Yes, there are marks, an arrow and a notch that guides how to insert the
block into the instrument correctly.
Is there a performance difference between bottled and prefilled reagents? During development of the prefilled cartridges, we carried out extensive comparisons between the manual pathogen kits and prefilled cartridges using different sample types and different pathogens. We found no significant differences between the two methods.
How complicated is it to enter your own protocols to the IndiMag 48s? It is not complicated at all. The easiest way is to fill out a text file with all the parameters and upload that to the instrument via a memory stick. You can also do it directly on the instrument.
Discover the benefits of IndiMag 48s and prefilled cartridges for yourself.
Watch the full webinar – including Q&A – here:
