The ideal solution or technology should achieve these tasks with only two manual pipette steps: adding the sample to the reaction tube and withdrawing the processed sample.

Our must-have requirements are:

• Tightly bind proteins like lysozyme, which can inhibit amplification
• Does not tightly bind proteins like DNA polymerase, Reverse Transcriptases and other commonly used life science enzymes
• Stable in a high-pH solution and still retains inhibitor binding characteristics to proteins like lysozyme

Our nice-to-have requirements are:

• Avoid magnesium chelation
• Has some demonstrated efficacy in complex samples, such as meat
• Binds or removes polyphosphates (pyrophosphate in particular) from the sample before it is added to the molecular test

What’s out of scope:

• Magnetic particle based extraction
• Automation
• Use of traditional enzymatic lysis steps that drive complications for cost, shelf life, and ease of use
• Multi-step lyophilized rehydration solution