Meridian Bioscience, Inc. announced the launch of two new master mixes that detect DNA and RNA in crude saliva samples. These two new mixes, Lyo-Ready™ Direct DNA qPCR Saliva Mix and Lyo-Ready™ Direct RNA/DNA qPCR Saliva Mix can be used in liquid format or lyophilized. Both mixes accelerate the development of diagnostic assays and improve assay sensitivity using saliva samples with direct qPCR protocols.

Saliva is a non-invasive clinical sample utilized for diagnostic testing across many diseases, including cancer, HIV, and respiratory diseases (e.g., flu, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, and COVID-19). Saliva is one of the easiest samples to collect and handle; however, PCR inhibitors naturally present in high concentrations in the sample create challenges in developing highly sensitive and reliable saliva-based assays. Similar to the innovative portfolio of Air-Dryable™ sample-specific master mixes, Meridian's new Lyo-Ready™ saliva-specific master mixes are optimized for use on crudely processed saliva or sputum samples for enhanced assay sensitivity and flexible protocols.

They are "ready-to-use," with no further optimization required aside from the addition of primers and probes. Additionally, these mixes are stable in a liquid format or can be lyophilized to create ambient temperature-stable assays for point-of-care applications.