Monoquant Pty Ltd.

Michael Julian Brisco

Alexander Alan Morley

Pamela Sykes

A method of determining a quantitative measure of the integrity of RNA in a sample, the method comprising: (i) assaying a sample containing instances of an RNA molecule transcribed from a reference gene, at least some of the instances being damaged, to determine quantitative measures of the relative or absolute numbers of intact instances of each of a plurality of segments of the RNA molecule in the sample, the segments having respective different lengths; (ii) based on a relationship between the determined quantitative measures and the respective different lengths of the segments, determining a quantitative measure of integrity of the instances of the RNA molecule in the sample; and (iii) determining the total number of instances of an RNA molecule of interest in a sample by using the quantitative measure of integrity and the length of a corresponding degradation-relevant segment of the RNA molecule of interest.

Method of determining RNA integrity

The present invention relates generally to a method of amplifying a nucleic acid region of interest and, more particularly, to a method of amplifying a nucleic acid region of interest via a nested single tube PCR. The method is designed to provide a means to selectively inactivate the functionality of the outer primer or primers and to maintain amplification efficiency throughout the reaction. The development of a means to achieve efficient amplification by the outer primer followed by efficient amplification with the inner primers, in the context of a single tube nested PCR, is useful in a range of applications including, but not limited to, the diagnosis and/or monitoring of disease conditions which are characterized by specific gene sequences and the characterization or analysis of specific gene regions of interest. Still further, the method enables quantification to be performed and not just simple detection.

Method of amplification

The present invention relates to a method of characterizing a nucleic acid region and, more particularly, to a method of analysing a marker nucleic acid region. The method of the present invention is based on identification of one or both of the nucleic acid regions flanking a marker nucleic acid region and provides a means of analysing a marker nucleic acid region which is characteristic of a clonal population of cells. The method of the present invention is useful in the context of enabling a range of applications including, but not limited to, monitoring the progression of a condition characterized by the presence of a clonal populations of cells (such as a neoplastic condition), monitoring the levels of one or more clonal cell population, predicting the likelihood of a subject's relapse from a remissive state to a disease state, for assessing the effectiveness of existing therapeutic drugs and/or new therapeutic agents and identifying the presence of a marker region.

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Campbelltown, Australia

Michael Julian Brisco