BioSpotlight

Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has come a long way in recent years as instrument availability and experimental applications continue to expand in number and scope. But the key to any digital PCR application is the ability to efficiently separate DNA molecules into individual compartments so that they can be directly counted. While microfluidic wells are one way to partition samples, in ddPCR samples are sorted into single oil droplets that act as individual PCR reaction vessels. When the DNA of interest is genomic, one challenge that researchers can encounter is viscosity. If a high concentration of input DNA is used in an effort to achieve sufficient copy numbers for analysis, the increased sample viscosity can lead to poor partitioning and therefore inaccurate results.