SARS Specialty Primers Are Now Available From ZipGen, Inc.

CLEVELAND -- ZipGen, Inc. announces the availability for sale of gene amplification primers that are used in the rapid detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Gene amplification primers provide a fast and reliable method for health agencies, hospitals, and laboratories to detect the presence of the SARS coronavirus in patients. The primers are used with a highly sensitive technology known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which rapidly detects the SARS virus from patient samples. The primers can be used for samples from sputum, blood, urine, and fecal matter. With conventional serology being too slow, the SARS epidemic marks the first time in the history of infectious diseases where genetic diagnostics based upon gene amplification has been proven to be the fastest means of detecting the presence of the SARS virus.

ZipGen, Inc. is part of the expanding list of biotechnology-based firms to address the needs of the global medical community in the rapid detection of this newly emergent pathogen. As the world health community copes with this recent deadly disease, new, reliable, and rapid technologies such as these primers will allow for better detection and control of this crisis.

ZipGen, Inc.'s nand existing products include specialty primers for the SARS virus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, non-tuberculous mycobacterial diseases, foodborne pathogens and custom primers. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) ruberculosis is the single biggest killer of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH). The ZipLys Buffer provides a format for cell lysis for nucleic acid extraction from a broad spectrum of bacterial cell types. The ZipLys Myco and ZipLys Bacto Systems are integrated formats that enable isolation, cultivation and nucleic acid extraction from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, atypical Mycobacterium, Nocardia, E. coli and other bacterial cells.

Source: ZipGen, Inc.