Q: What type of payment does qPCR Designs accept?
A: We prefer credit card payment through PayPal. For a long-term customer, we will grant payment against delivery; for a new customer, we will require 100% prepayment.
Q: How will the sequence information be sent to us?
A: We will send the sequence information to your email address.
Q: Do you supply primers probe oligos?
A: At the present time, we do not make our own oligos. Our service is in the prediction of sequence data to allow you to order the sequences.
Q: What do I do in the event of an assay failure?
A: In the highly unlikely event of a qPCR failure we would ask you to send us the failing data. We would offer counsel and if we verify that it is due to inadequate sequences we will offer a full refund.
Q: What is the advantage of working with SYBR Green I?
A: SYBR Green I is an inexpensive, universal dye which binds to all dsDNA. It can be easily used in combination with a simple primer pair to detect PCR products in Real-Time. This dye is attractive to researchers that wish to analyze many different genes before focusing in on specific targets. With Sybr Green I, it is important to do a good primer design to avoid primer dimers, which will also be detected by SYBR Green I.
Q: What is the advantage of working with a probe system?
A: A probe system is always specific and therefore can only detect the gene of interest. With a probe system, it is also possible to distinguish between similar sequences with smaller differences like SNPs or mutations. In general, probe assays need less optimization than SYBR Green I assays.
Q: What is the advantage of working with a Molecular Beacon over a Linear Probe system?
A: The stem probe structure of a molecular beacon enables it to better discriminate single base-pair mismatches compared to linear probes. This is due to the fact that the hairpin (in the molecular beacon) makes mismatched hybrids thermally less stable than hybrids between the corresponding linear probes and their mismatched target.
Q: How does the sensitivity differ between a probe assay and a SYBR Green I assay?
A: A probe assay and a SYBR Green I assay can be equally sensitive. In cases of difficult to optimize PCRs, the SYBR Green I assay might be less beneficial as it reveals the total fluorescent signal of primer dimers, non-specific product, and target product. Thus in cases of difficult to optimize PCRs, it is beneficial to use a probe-based system for detection.
