Twist Bioscience Launches Synthetic RNA Positive Controls for SARS-CoV-2 Encapsulated in Imagene’s Stainless Steel Capsules
March 21 2022 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
-- Enhances Stability and Enables Robust Global
Shipping and Storage at Room Temperature --
Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), a company enabling
customers to succeed through its offering of high-quality synthetic
DNA using its silicon platform, today announced the launch of
specific synthetic RNA positive controls for SARS-CoV-2
encapsulated in proprietary stainless steel minicapsules provided
by Imagene SA. The airtight minicapsules provide a stable
environment for the RNA controls, allowing cost-effective shipping
and storage at room temperature of fragile RNA for an extended
period. In particular, we believe this product enhancement will
enable Twist to serve customers in regions that do not have an
effective cold chain system or easy access to ultra-cold storage
and also may allow the use of the controls in point of care
settings.
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Imagene stainless steel minicapsule
(Courtesy of Imagene)
“The global COVID-19 pandemic remains a threat in many parts of
the world, particularly those countries that have not had access to
sufficient quantities of vaccine. In these, and in fact, in all
regions of the world, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is fully established and
is still a threat to large populations,” said Emily M. Leproust,
Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist. “Our synthetic RNA controls
help identify, test for, and track SARS-CoV-2 variants. With these
new encapsulated versions, we now have the ability to ship and
store anywhere in the world, serving every community with a more
cost-effective, longer-term solution to help monitor and control
this ongoing crisis.”
This is an expansion of Twist’s first agreement with Imagene in
July 2019 to use Imagene’s DNAshell technology for the long-term
storage of digital data encoded in DNA, with the DNA remaining
stable for thousands of years. Using Imagene’s encapsulation
technology, Twist now has the ability to ship and store both DNA
and RNA products anywhere in the world for long periods of time.
Stable shipping and storage is particularly important for
inherently unstable molecules such as RNA which rapidly breaks down
at room temperature and typically requires ultra-cold storage at
temperatures of -80° C. Maintaining this temperature requires
specialized equipment with significant energy requirements.
“Twist understands the value of our microcapsules for nucleic
acids long term storage. This is particularly true for the fragile
RNA molecules,” commented Sophie Tuffet, Ph.D., CEO and chairman of
Imagene. “Imagene’s and Twist technologies meet the needs of
diagnostic laboratories to have stable and standardized reference
materials. In particular, RNAshell provides a reliable packaging
with an unparalleled guarantee of stability. It also offers the
possibility of single use. The ability to store nucleic acids at
room temperature without energy requirement provides tremendous
benefit for applications like data storage or pandemic response and
we look forward to an active relationship with Twist on both
fronts.”
The Twist synthetic controls are designed based on specific
SARS-CoV-2 variants, cover the full viral genome and are
sequence-verified. For customers interested in alternative variants
of SARS-CoV-2, or synthetic RNA or DNA controls for other
sequences, Twist can provide custom controls in multiple formats.
Twist also offers a suite of research tools, including
next-generation sequencing (NGS) products for SARS-CoV-2 as well as
a broad respiratory panel and a comprehensive viral panel.
Customers purchasing synthetic controls are subject to Twist’s
leading biosecurity screening protocols and applicable laws and
regulations.
About Imagene
Imagene is a leading company in the field of room temperature
preservation of nucleic acids and other biospecimens. Imagene's
robust technology is based on the confinement of desiccated nucleic
acid molecules under an anoxic and anhydrous inert atmosphere
inside airtight, laser-engraved, stainless steel minicapsules. This
allows to distribute and store natural or synthetic nucleic acids
at room temperature without limit of time, without energy cost and
without cold logistics making them ideally suited for DNA and RNA
references for molecular analyzes. Imagene’s technology efficiently
addresses storage issues for research, healthcare, and industry.
Imagene is both a service provider and instrumentation
supplier.
About Twist Bioscience
Twist Bioscience is a leading and rapidly growing synthetic
biology and genomics company that has developed a disruptive DNA
synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology. The
core of the platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a
new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a
silicon chip. Twist is leveraging its unique technology to
manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products,
including synthetic genes, tools for next-generation sequencing
(NGS) preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and
development. Twist is also pursuing longer-term opportunities in
digital data storage in DNA and biologics drug discovery. Twist
makes products for use across many industries including healthcare,
industrial chemicals, agriculture and academic research.
Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical facts contained
herein are forward-looking statements reflecting the current
beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that may cause
Twist Bioscience’s actual results, performance, or achievements to
be materially different from any future results, performance, or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. For a description of the risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these
forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to Twist
Bioscience’s business in general, see Twist Bioscience’s risk
factors set forth in Twist Bioscience’s Quarterly Report Form 10-Q
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 9,
2022 and subsequent filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking
statements contained in this press release speak only as of the
date hereof, and Twist Bioscience specifically disclaims any
obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220321005229/en/
Angela Bitting SVP, Corporate Affairs Twist Bioscience
abitting@twistbioscience.com
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