The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The Secretary of State for Defence

Julie Deacon

David James Squirrell

Martin Lee

Dario Lyall Leslie

Hilary Bird

John Shaw

David Wenn

A method of carrying out an amplification reaction, said method comprising supplying to a well in a disposable unit (a) a sample which contains or is suspected of containing a target nucleic acid sequence (b) primers, nucleotides and enzymes required to effect said amplification reaction and (c) a buffer system, and subjecting the unit to thermal cycling conditions such that any target nucleic acid present within the sample is amplified; wherein the disposable unit comprises a thermally conducting layer and a facing layer having one or more reagent wells of up to 1000 microns in depth defined therebetween; and the reaction mixture comprises at least one of the following: A) a buffer system wherein the pH is above 8.3; B) a detergent; and/or C) a blocking agent. Apparatus for effecting the method as well as disposable units for use in the method are described. The method is particularly suitable for rapid PCR reactions.

Reaction system for performing in the amplification of nucleic acids

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Hayes, United Kingdom

Julie Deacon