Thermo Fisher Scientific Applied Biosystems TaqMan SARS-CoV-2 Mutation Panel

Thermo Fisher Scientific has announced the Applied Biosystems TaqMan SARS-CoV-2 Mutation Panel, a customisable menu of 22 verified real-time PCR assays for identification of SARS-CoV-2 mutations. The assays enable surveillance of variants that are causing COVID-19 infections in specific regions globally and allow laboratories to choose which mutations to track.

SARS-CoV-2 has mutated countless times, with some variants potentially impacting efficacy of treatments and vaccines, stressing the importance of continued surveillance of viral changes. The mutation panel is designed to be scalable, being able to run a few or hundreds of samples to identify one or many mutations. This provides laboratories with the ability to meet various levels of testing need with real-time PCR instruments they already use.

The panel provides results in about an hour and is based on gold standard TaqMan SNP genotyping assay technology, which can help to detect and distinguish mutations efficiently.