Merck Improves Lab Productivity Through Faster and More Sustainable Nucleic Acid Purification

• GenElute™-E Single Spin kits reduce traditional silica-based workflow hands-on time from about 45 minutes to only three minutes
• Fifty-five percent plastic waste reduction on average through negative chromatography technology
• Eliminates overnight processing requirements

Darmstadt, Germany, May 20, 2021 — Merck, a leading science and technology company, introduced a new solution improving productivity in the lab through a more flexible and streamlined nucleic acid purification process — GenElute™-E Single Spin purification kits.

“Especially now, when many researchers cannot be in the lab as much or as often as they would like, we want to streamline their efforts on long, manual processes and avoid hazardous liquid waste,” said Klaus-Reinhard Bischoff, head of Research Solutions, Life Science, at Merck. “We are proud to offer an exclusive technology that saves time and is more sustainable than usual silica-based options.”

Merck’s new GenElute™-E Single Spin purification kits enable nucleic acid purification without the need for multiple binding and wash steps by separating molecules in the sample by size using negative chromatography technology. Hands-on time is reduced from 45 minutes on average to only three minutes, compared with silica-based kits.

The kit’s application-specific SmartLyse™ enzymes create lysis times of only 10-40 minutes, eliminating overnight processing requirements, which are traditionally required for challenging samples. The new kits reduce lysis and nucleic acid purification steps to under an hour.

Nucleic acid purification, the purification of genomic DNA and RNA, is an essential step in the pursuit of scientific answers to many health-related questions. It is used in virus detection and surveillance, research and therapeutic development and waste-water testing, and performed before downstream applications such as next-generation sequencing.

Merck’s GenElute™-E Single Spin Technology workflow also reduces plastic waste on average by 55 percent, compared with traditional methods, providing a more sustainable alternative and reducing lab waste disposal costs.