Raw Materials for Molecular Diagnostics | Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific has more than 45 years of experience developing enzymes, buffers, nucleotides, ladders, nucleic acids, and other reagents for life science research. Our dedicated OEM teams partner with customers with product development, manufacturing, and commercialization.

In your molecular assay development journey, our experts help you to select the best-fitting products for your application. Our R&D scientists support assay development efforts in RT-PCR, isothermal amplification, and NGS methods.

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Raw materials for customized assay development
Customization capabilities
Reagents for custom assay development
Resources for custom assay development
FAQs on raw materials for custom assay development

Raw materials for custom assay development

Molecular diagnostic assays and kits require high quality reagents. Our vast portfolio of reagents is available off the shelf in bulk quantities or can be customized for your specifications. Figure 1 lists our most popular customization capabilities.

Infographic with text showing the three groups of customization

Figure 1. Overview of customization capabilities.

Large-scale manufacturing and production

We offer large scale manufacturing and production services include sourcing and quality control of raw materials, manufacturing the assay components, assembling kits, packaging, customizing labels, and more.

Custom reagents and material modification

We tailor our existing products to your specifications. This may involve modifying existing assays to fit specific sample types, concentration and composition, or stability requirements.

Custom assay design and development

We offer comprehensive expertise in developing and designing assays, including but not limited to protocol design, reagent and components selection, condition optimization, performance evaluation, quality validation, and regulatory compliance. These services are available for protein cloning, expression, and purification, enzyme evolution, and modification of RT and PCR enzymes and buffers.

Reagents for custom assay development

Custom assay development relies on quality reagents optimized for molecular diagnostic assay. Reagents and enzymes commonly used in custom assay development are listed in Tables 1 to 5. Click on the accordions to see the tables.

Reverse transcriptases

Table 1. Reverse transcriptases available for assay development.

Enzymes	Applications
Enzymes	One-step RT-qPCR	Two-step RT-qPCR	One-step RT-PCR	LAMP	cDNA synthesis
Invitrogen Lyo-ready SuperScript Reverse Transcriptase, One-step RT-qPCR	✓	–	–	–	–
Invitrogen SuperScript IV Reverse Transcriptase	–	✓	✓	✓	✓
Invitrogen SuperScript III Reverse Transcriptase	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Maxima Reverse Transcriptase	–	✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific Maxima H Minus Reverse Transcriptase	–	✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific RevertAid Reverse Transcriptase	–	✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific RevertAid H Minus Reverse Transcriptase	–	✓	✓	✓	✓
RT-qPCR: Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction LAMP: Loop-mediated isothermal amplification

View the enzyme selection guide to select products suitable for your application

DNA polymerases

Table 2. DNA polymerases available for assay development.

Enzymes	Applications
Enzymes	One-step RT-qPCR	Two-step RT-qPCR	PCR
Invitrogen Platinum II Taq Hot-Start DNA polymerase	✓	✓	✓
Invitrogen Platinum Taq DNA Polymerase	✓	✓	✓
AmpliTaq Gold DNA Polymerase	✓	✓	✓
AmpliTaq Gold 360 DNA Polymerase	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific LibertyTaq DNA Polymerase	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific Taq DNA Polymerase, recombinant	✓	✓	✓
Invitrogen Platinum SuperFi II DNA Polymerase	–	–	✓
Invitrogen Platinum SuperFi DNA Polymerase	–	–	✓
Thermo Scientific Phusion Plus DNA Polymerase	–	–	✓
Thermo Scientific Phusion Hot Start II DNA Polymerase	–	–	✓
Thermo Scientific Phusion U Hot Start DNA Polymerase	–	–	✓
RT-qPCR: Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction

View the enzyme selection guide to select products suitable for your application

Modifying enzymes

Table 3. Modifying enzymes available for assay development.

Enzymes	Applications
Enzymes	Cloning	NGS library preparation	Labeling	NA preparation	IVT	PCR	Methylation analysis	Isothermal amplification
Thermo Scientific Poly(A) Polymerase, Yeast	✓	–	✓	–	✓	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific T7 RNA Polymerase	–	–	–	✓	–	–	–	–
Invitrogen DNA Polymerase I	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific Klenow Fragment	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific Klenow Fragment, exo-	–	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific T4 DNA Polymerase	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific T7 DNA Polymerase	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific T4 Polynucleotide Kinase	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific Endonuclease V, T. maritima	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific Endonuclease IV, E. coli	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Exonuclease I	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Exonuclease III	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Exonuclease VII	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific T7 Gene 6 Exonuclease	✓	–	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Lambda Exonuclease	✓	–	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Pyrophosphatase, inorganic	–	✓	–	–	✓	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific RNase A/T1 mix	–	–	–	✓	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific RNase A	–	✓	–	✓	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific RNase I	–	–	–	✓	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific Ribonuclease H (RNase H)	✓	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific RNase T1	–	✓	–	✓	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific T4 RNA Ligase	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific T4 beta-glucosyltransferase	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	✓	–
Thermo Scientific T4 DNA Ligase	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific S1 Nuclease	✓	✓	–	–	–	–	–	–
Thermo Scientific DNase I, RNase-free	–	✓	–	–	✓	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific CpG methyltransferase (M.Sssl)	–	–	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Uracil-DNA Glycosylase, heat-labile	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Uracil DNA Glycosylase	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific FastAP Thermosensitive Alkaline Phosphatase	✓	–	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Micrococcal Nuclease	✓	–	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific restriction enzymes	✓	–	–	–	✓	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific Single-Strand Binding Protein (SSB)	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific SP6 RNA Polymerase	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Thermo Scientific T3 RNA Polymerase	–	✓	–	–	–	✓	–	–
Invitrogen RNaseOUT Recombinant Ribonuclease Inhibitor	–	–	–	–	✓	✓	–	✓
Thermo Scientific RiboLock RNase Inhibitor	–	–	–	–	✓	✓	–	✓
Thermo Scientific Proteinase K	–	–	–	–	–	✓	–	–
NA: Nucleic acid IVT:in vitro transcription PCR: Polymerase chain reaction

View the enzyme selection guide to select products suitable for your application

dNTPs

Table 4. dNTPs available for assay development.

Products		Applications
Products		One-step RT-qPCR	Two-step RT-qPCR	LAMP	cDNA synthesis
Thermo Scientific dNTP Mix	25 mM each 10 mM each 100 mM each	✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific dATP Solution (100mM)		✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific dCTP Solution (100 mM)		✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific dGTP Solution (100 mM)		✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific dTTP Solution (100 mM)		✓	✓	✓	✓
Thermo Scientific dUTP Solution (100 mM)		✓	✓	✓	✓
RT-qPCR: Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction LAMP: Loop-mediated isothermal amplification

View the enzyme selection guide to select products suitable for your application

Enzymes for INAAT

Table 5. Enzymes for isothermal nucleic acid amplification (INAAT)

Product	Application
Invitrogen Lyo-ready Bst DNA Polymerase	LAMP, HDA, EXPAR, RCA
Invitrogen SuperScript IV RT-LAMP Master Mix	LAMP
Invitrogen SuperScript IV Reverse Transcriptase and other RTs	LAMP, NASBA, TMA
Thermo Scientific T7 RNA Polymerase	NASBA, TMA
RNase inhibitors (Ribolock, RNaseOUt, and others)	LAMP, NASBA, TMA
RNase H	NASBA
Thermo Scientific Phi29 DNA Polymerase	MDA, WGA, RCA
Thermo Scientific EquiPhi29 DNA Polymerase	MDA, WGA, RCA
Thermo Scientific Klenow Fragment, exo–	SDA
EXPAR: Exponential amplification reaction HDA: Helicase-dependent amplification LAMP: Loop-mediated isothermal amplification MDA: Multiple displacement amplification NASBA: Nucleic acid sequence-based amplification RCA: Rolling circle amplification SDA: Strand displacement amplification TMA: Transcription-mediated amplification WGA: Whole-genome amplification

Buffers & other reagents

DNA Ladders
RNA Ladders
Water
BSA
DTT
PolyA
Reaction buffers
DMSO
Co-Enzyme A

View the enzyme selection guide to select products suitable for your application

Resources for custom assay development

Explore our portfolio of products compatible for custom assay development

FAQs: Raw materials for custom assay development

Can High Fidelity enzymes be used with TaqMan probes (qPCR application)?

No, High Fidelity enzymes are not compatible with TaqMan probes qPCR. Proofreading DNA polymerases lack 5’→ 3’-exonuclease activity which is essential for TaqMan assay.

What is the best Taq polymerase to use in inhibitor-containing samples in qPCR applications?

Platinum II Taq Hot-Start DNA Polymerase works best with inhibitor-containing samples.

Which reverse transcriptase is the most suitable for developing a one-step RT-qPCR assay?

We recommend using Lyo-ready SuperScript Reverse Transcriptase 1-step RT-qPCR, which was specially created for one-step RT-qPCR application. We have prepared an optimized protocol for a one-step RT-qPCR application that contains Lyo-ready SuperScript Reverse Transcriptase, 1-step RT-qPCR, and Lyo-ready Platinum II Taq Hot-Start DNA Polymerase.

Read application note: SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection with the lyo-ready one-step RT-qPCR system
View the user guide: Lyo-ready one-step RT-qPCR system

Is SuperScript IV Reverse Transcriptase suitable for one-step RT-qPCR?

We do not recommend using SuperScript IV reverse transcriptase for one-step RT-qPCR assay due to the high affinity to the template. This feature for one-step RT-qPCR application is excessive because it might prevent polymerase to act efficiently. SuperScript IV Reverse Transcriptase is the number one enzyme of choice for the NGS library preparation step as well as the two-step RT-qPCR assay.

Can Collibri Library Cleanup beads be used instead of AMPure XP and similar products?

Yes, Collibri Cleanup Beads and AMPure XP are interchangeable but note the differences in the cleanup/size selection protocols.

Are Thermo Fisher Scientific DNA/RNA modifying enzymes tested in NGS applications?

Yes, all Thermo Fisher Scientific DNA/RNA modifying enzymes are rigorously tested and suitable for NGS library prep workflows.

Resources

Check out our resources on molecular assay development.