Merck Millipore Launches CpGenome™ Direct Prep Bisulfite Modification Kit for Simplified One-Step Conversion of Unmethylated Cytosines

• Eliminates the need to isolate genomic DNA prior to performing bisulfite analysis
• Conversion efficiencies are >99.5% from as few as 10 cells or as low as 50 pg of DNA
• Suitable for downstream analysis by methylation specific PCR, restriction digestion, sequencing and microarray hybridization

October 23, 2013, Darmstadt, Germany — Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck, today introduced the CpGenome™ Direct Prep Bisulfite Modification Kit, which performs bisulfite conversion directly from cells, tissues, blood and formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples without DNA purification. By eliminating the need to isolate genomic DNA prior to performing bisulfite analysis, the kit provides a simple and reliable protocol for one-step bisulfite conversion.

The new kit offers conversion efficiencies of more than 99.5% and only requires limited amounts of input material, working with as few as 10 cells or as low as 50 pg of DNA. It is suitable for downstream analysis by methylation specific PCR, restriction digestion, sequencing and microarray hybridization, and its in-column desulfonation allows for the recovery of DNA without additional precipitation steps, producing more consistent results.

“Any laboratory wanting to streamline its bisulfite analysis can benefit from the new CpGenome™ kit,” says Michael Sturges, Ph.D., Senior Product Manager, Epigenetics, Merck Millipore. “In particular, this new approach is ideal for researchers working with FFPE samples, since it provides detailed guidance for working with these types of samples, as well as laboratories performing methylation analysis from limited amounts of starting materials.”

For more information, please visit:

• CpGenome Direct Prep Bisulfite Modification Kit (50 Reactions)
• CpGenome Direct Prep Bisulfite Modification Kit (200 Reactions)

About Merck Millipore
Merck Millipore is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Germany and offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers’ success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, Merck Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science.

Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 66 countries and 2012 revenues of € 2.6 billion. Merck Millipore operates as EMD Millipore in the U.S. and Canada.

Note: Merck KGaA or Merck shall mean Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany  
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is a global pharmaceutical, chemical and life science company with total revenues of € 11.2 billion in 2012, a history that began in 1668, and a future shaped by approx. 39,000 employees in 66 countries. Its success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees. Merck KGaA's operating activities come under the umbrella of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in which the Merck family holds an approximately 70% interest and shareholders own the remaining approximately 30%. In 1917 the U.S. subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an independent company ever since.

Worldwide there are two separate companies that bear the name “Merck”, the original Merck KGaA from Darmstadt, Germany, the oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company in the world, and the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. in the United States. The rights to the name and trademark MERCK in North America (USA and Canada) lie with Merck & Co., the former U.S. subsidiary of Merck, whereas Merck KGaA operates in North America under the umbrella brand EMD. In the rest of the world, Merck KGaA owns the rights to the Merck name and trademark.