Ambion launches first SARS control

RNA specialist Ambion has introduced what it claims is the first commercially available positive control for use in the detection of the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Ambion developed the control using its Armored RNA technology, used for packaging RNA in bacteriophage coat proteins to protect and stabilise the nucleic acid sequence. A major application of this technology is production of viral RNA controls and standards that withstand ribonucleases and long-term storage in serum or plasma.

"It is important to have an Armored RNA control for the SARS coronavirus because it gives laboratories the ability to use a positive control that can be carried through all the steps from sample preparation, amplification, to detection; and to do so without having to grow the virus or use a positive specimen,"​ commented Dr Frederick Nolte, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in the USA.

Under a cooperative sales agreement, Ambion's Armored RNA portfolio of products is available for purchase from Boston Biomedica.