The flashBAC kit was developed by researchers at the University for the production of recombinant baculoviruses, which are used for the expression of protein using insect cells.
Insect cells and baculovirus expressions systems have found favour among researchers who would otherwise use bacterial systems for a number of reasons. For example, they are safe to use, can accommodate large or multiple genes and have very efficient gene promoters. In addition, the proteins they produce are almost always functional and often undergo post-translational processing - such as signal peptide cleavage, nuclear targeting, membrane targeting, secretion, phosphorylation, glycosylation, acylation - that can be crucial to their function.
However, insect-based systems are not without their disadvantages and these lie mainly in the labour-intensive and technically demanding steps needed to produce recombinant viruses.
With flashBAC, these obstacles have been overcome, according to Prof Linda King, co-inventor of the technology at Oxford Brookes University, as it removes the need to separate recombinant virus from parental virus.
"This reduces the technique to a one-step procedure, significantly reducing timelines while maximising protein yields," explained Dr Mark Littlewood, business unit manager for bio-reagents at NextGen Sciences.
He said the technology can be used for researchers requiring just one or a few recombinant baculoviruses, but has also been proven with automated systems to meet high-throughput needs.
NextGen Sciences officially launched flashBAC last week at the annual CHI PepTalk meeting in San Diego, California, US. The product will compete with other expression systems from the likes of Invitrogen and BD Biosciences.