Our Maxwell® Travels from Spain to Antarctica to Help Stop the Avian Flu Virus

In January 2024, Antonio Alcamí and Ángela Vázquez, virologists from the Severo Ochoa Centre for Molecular Biology, landed in Antarctica to study the avian flu virus. They embarked on a journey to monitor 17,000 penguins as part of their efforts to study the virus and prevent its spread. Our Maxwell® RSC 48 was delivered to […]

Studying the Genetic Basis of Type 2 Diabetes with An Automated Maxwell® Workflow

Over the past few decades, the prevalence of diabetes has been on the rise. According to the WHO, 422 million people worldwide have diabetes, causing an estimated 1.5 million deaths every year. Among those with diabetes, 95% have type 2 diabetes—which is caused by the body’s resistance to insulin. It is known that risk factors […]

Finding the Right Maxwell® RSC Kit for Your Nucleic Acid Extraction

This blog was written by guest writers Paraj Mandrekar (Technical Services Scientist 3) and Michelle Mandrekar, (Research Scientist 4). Here are some designer’s notes comparing the Maxwell® RSC Blood DNA and the Maxwell® RSC simplyRNA kit chemistries for nucleic acid extraction. The Maxwell RSC Blood DNA Kit and Maxwell RSC simplyRNA Blood Kit were both […]

Fighting Plant Pathogens Worldwide with the Maxwell® RSC PureFood GMO and Authentication Kit

Among the one trillion or so species that share space on our planet, complex relationships have emerged over time. Such relationships, in which two or more species closely interact, are collectively termed symbiosis. Although it’s commonly assumed that symbiotic relationships are mutually beneficial, this example constitutes only one type of symbiosis (known as mutualism). The […]

Ramping Up COVID-19 Testing with the Maxwell® HT Viral TNA Kit

John Longshore admits that he was not a big Promega customer before the COVID-19 pandemic. His team uses a wide variety of suppliers to assemble the types of testing protocols needed to serve over 50 hospitals. However, when he began to face supply chain disruptions in early 2020, he needed a supplier he could depend […]

Public-Private Initiative to Increase COVID-19 Testing Capacity by Using Promega Maxwell Instrument in India

This blog is written by guest blogger, Dr Rajnish Bharti, General Manager of Promega Biotech India Pvt Ltd. As COVID-19 cases accelerate, the country of India has decided to scale up testing capacity to 100,000 tests per day in the coming days. In a major step to counter the coronavirus crisis, Promega India is supporting […]

The Making of a Promega Product: Teamwork = Success for the Maxwell RSC® ccfDNA Plasma Kit

Ever think about the kinds of challenges R&D scientists run up against in the course of developing a new product? The development of the Maxwell® RSC ccfDNA (circulating cell-free DNA) Plasma Kit is a particularly interesting example. Its path to commercialization was characterized by a number of unexpected technical hurdles, yet each was overcome through […]

Freedom to Focus: Maxwell® Rapid Sample Concentrator

Back in the dark ages, when I was a graduate student, my idea of “automated” plasmid DNA extraction involved performing home-brew, “toothpick preps” in “strip tubes” or , if I was really feeling ambitious, a 96-well plate. I would get just enough DNA to check for the presence of an insert, but the quality of […]

Mpox—The Latest Zoonotic Virus Making Headlines

Mpox (formerly known as Monkeypox; 1) has been making the news lately. The declaration by the WHO Director-General naming mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC; 2) has a lot of people wondering what it is, how it spreads and how concerned they should be. Understandably, we are all a little jumpy when […]

Understanding Persistent Digestive Disorders With Multiplex PCR

Digestive disorders are a leading cause of mortality worldwide, with diarrhea being particularly deadly. Despite declining mortality rates, diarrhea still causes an estimated 1.65 million deaths annually, with the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries, largely due to poor sanitation and lack of clean water. While acute diarrhea has been extensively studied, less is […]