Pleasanton, CA – Unchained Labs, the life sciences company that’s all about getting biologics and gene therapy researchers the right tool for the job, launched a killer new lentivirus application on Leprechaun today. Leprechaun could already characterize and quantify lentiviruses in crude or pure samples, measuring their size, checking them for the right structural components and now it can confirm that they have RNA on board.

Lentiviruses are beastly gene therapy vectors that are among the hardest to characterize. They are harvested from messy cell culture soup that most analytical techniques can’t even touch without a slew of clean-up steps. To be viable, they must be the right size, have the correct surface proteins, and contain a capsid loaded with the RNA they were designed to deliver into cells. Researchers typically piece this data together using at least 3 different instruments that require a bunch of sample prep to measure one attribute at a time.

Leprechaun lets researchers skip all this pain using a combination of antibody capture, fluorescence, and interferometry to quantify lentiviruses based on their size, surface proteins and structural features that make them work – on up to 16 samples per run and using only 1 – 25 μL. The new RNA application directly measures the percentage of lentiviruses that contain a capsid and are carrying RNA, both on the inside of the virus. For the first time, researchers can measure their intact lentivirus titer at any step of their process, including directly from crude harvest samples.

“Leprechaun could already characterize lentiviruses like nothing else out there. The ability to now characterize and quantify all the critical components of these crazy complicated vectors, including RNA, will change the game for scientists developing them.” said Taegen Clary, SVP of Marketing at Unchained Labs. “What’s more is that we’ve also fully updated our exosome applications to make it simple and easy to identify and quantify them using Leprechaun too. Sounds magical because it is!”

About Unchained Labs
Here’s the deal. We’re all about helping biologics and gene therapy researchers break free from tools that just don’t cut it. Unleashing problem-tackling solutions that make a huge difference in the real science they do every day. That’s our mantra, our promise and we own it. We’re located in Pleasanton, CA and can be found online at www.unchainedlabs.com.