RapidProbes™

RapidProbe™ is a mathematically-engineered, hairpin probe design for real-time PCR. Like Molecular Beacons™, the RapidProbe design uses a hairpin structure with a melting temperature of 7-10°C above the reaction temperature. The difference comes with the addition of bases that are complementary to the middle of the probe resulting in a more rapid hybridization rate, which increase probe accuracy while reducing design complexity and expense.  RapidProbes bring the quencher and fluorophore into close proximity. When the probe initiates hybridization, it “unzips,” creating a brighter signal than standard probes. The brighter probes translate to higher accuracy and allow for lower-cost detection equipment.

These features result in RapidProbe assays having a faster reaction rate than those built with Molecular Beacons or Tentacle Probes™, and the assays are far less expensive due to the absence of internal modifications.  Highly sensitive RapidProbe assays can detect even a single virus in a DNA sample.

RapidProbes are part of the Co-Diagnostics suite of intellectual property for mathematically-engineered reagents, eliminating much of the guesswork in test design and shortening the development cycle.

UK Patent no. GB2480792, “ENERGY TRANSFER HAIRPIN OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBES,” was announced in the Patents Journal on 14 November 2018. The patent is related to assays for nucleic acid detection in a specific way to increase reaction kinetics, while maintaining a simple, proprietary continuous sequence probe design, called a RapidProbe, and low-cost synthesis. Detection of a target occurs in conjunction with nuclease cleavage of the probe. Co-Diagnostics owns all the technology on which RapidProbes are built.