Commercial Opportunities For A Cutting-edge, Direct-to-PCR Trace DNA Recovery Solution

Online, March 19, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is providing opportunities for industry to work on a cutting-edge new trace DNA recovery method, which was developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).

Ploughshare Innovations, Dstl's technology transfer company, is offering option licenses for the development of the trace DNA recovery solution. It was initially created for military use in the field but could save time and money in a range of commercial applications.

Conventional techniques require trace DNA to be swabbed from an object, purified and processed before Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification. Some DNA is lost during the processing stages. The new trace DNA recovery technology involves a direct one step sample recovery method prior to PCR. It replaces the pre-PCR sampling, extraction and purification stages with a single step. This dramatically reduces the time and complexity of the method and minimises the loss of DNA. The increased sensitivity allows samples to be taken from a tiny area (e.g. 3mm) off an object where only very small amounts of touch DNA may be present.

The proven process is an easy to use, robust method enabling recovery of very low levels of DNA by minimally trained personnel in the field.
It has already been proven to effectively identify individuals from their touch DNA by successfully generating a full DNA profile from the sample.
Ploughshare Innovations hopes to license the technology on an option basis for commercial development.

Possible commercial applications include use by law enforcement in crime scene investigation, use by security services and applications in food hygiene and safety testing.

Contact Ploughshare Innovations for more information, quoting "P1566"
Tel: (+44) 01794 301602
Or email Vicky Torraca please at vmtorraca@dstl.gov.uk

Notes to editors:
Dstl
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) maximises the impact of science and technology (S&T) for the defence and security of the UK, supplying sensitive and specialist S&T services for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and wider government.
It starts from the presumption that work should be conducted by external suppliers unless there is a clear reason for it to be done or led by Dstl. At present, around sixty percent of the approximately £400 million Defence Science and Technology Programme, managed through Dstl, goes to industry and academia to deliver.
Dstl is a trading fund of the MOD, run along commercial lines. It is one of the principal government organisations dedicated to S&T in the defence and security field, with around 3,700 staff at its three main sites: Porton Down, near Salisbury, Portsdown West, near Portsmouth, and Fort Halstead, near Sevenoaks.