To address the challenge of laboratory contamination in molecular tests with minimal lab training and setup requirements, Atila Biosystems has developed a new format for all the isothermal PCR assays: the Zebra BioDome format.

This novel format features pre-loaded reagents in either 8-well PCR strips or 96-well PCR plates, covered by a temperature-sensitive hydrophobic gel matrix. The hydrogel matrix in the reagent tube is highly stable and is semi-solidified during the transportation and storage before its full implementation, which protects reagents from any possible leakage or spilling out and contamination during reagent preparation for test. The matrix liquefies and moves to the top of the liquid to seal the reaction wells during the reaction and re-solidified after amplification reactions before disposed. Thus, in addition to the common features shared by Atila’s traditional isothermal PCR assays and this format(e.g. easy-to-use, high-throughput, cost-appropriate in low-resource settings, and no requirements for DNA extraction), the contamination-prevention feature along with no requirement of reagent preparation make Zebra BioDome format to have high potential to improve the uptake of Atila’s assay by requiring only the single step of adding the patient’s sample and thus making it more suitable for various scenarios such as large-scale screening, field testing in resource-limited areas, etc.