Agilent launches microarray for screening of aneuploidy in embryos

Agilent Technologies has introduced its new GenetiSure Pre-Screen Kit for use in the rapid screening of aneuploidy in embryos.

The high-throughput oligonucleotide microarray can be used to screen for aneuploidy and other genomic aberrations in the five to ten Mb range from single cells in three and five-day embryos, with a turnaround time of less than eight hours from DNA extraction to data analysis.

Consisting of a microarray that can run up to 14 samples and two reference samples simultaneously, the kit allows more embryos to be screened without significantly increasing costs.

It is based on Agilent's market-leading technology for high-resolution oligonucleotide comparative genomic hybridisation and is compatible with the company's CytoGenomics software for easy data analysis.

Dr Richard Choy, associate professor of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: "No other array platform currently has this high-throughput capacity, with less than eight hours turnaround time, with this resolution."

This comes after the firm enhanced its Genomic DNA ScreenTape assay earlier this month with a new DNA Integrity Number software upgrade for assessing the integrity of genomic DNA.