Twist Bioscience releases two synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA Controls

In California, Twist Bioscience Corporation announced the availability of two synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA Controls. Positive controls provide quality control measures for the development, verification, and validation for diagnostic tests including both next-generation sequencing (NGS) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays; determination of the limit of detection; and monitoring of day-to-day test variations.
Twist is offering two fully-synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA controls, available for distinct reference sequences:

• Twist Synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA Control 1 (MT007544.1)
• Twist Synthetic SARS-CoV-2 RNA Control 2 (MN908947.3)

The Twist synthetic controls are designed based on two specific SARS-CoV-2 variants, cover the full viral genome and are sequence-verified. In addition, Twist is able to create synthetic RNA controls from other strains or sequences of the virus, and can provide these custom controls within two weeks.

In addition to working with customers to provide synthetic controls, Twist is delivering key products for academic institutions and healthcare companies fighting the global health crisis. The company is synthesizing Clonal Genes and Gene Fragments that enable quick development of subunit vaccines from one or more antigen-presenting viral gene or peptide sequence, bypassing the need for scientists to handle live and potentially dangerous pathogens and eliminating the time needed to clone DNA fragments. Twist also offers Research-Use Only (RUO) target enrichment NGS panels for viral detection and characterization of samples. The company remains committed to continued innovation and delivery of products to meet the evolving needs of the research community.