First-Rate Veterinary Diagnostics

ForGen Relies on the innuPREP AniPath DNA/RNA Kit
The top forensic laboratory ForGen, based in Hamburg, uses the universal innuPREP AniPath kit to extract the smallest DNA traces. As a result, the daily extraction workflow has been significantly improved.
 

Working with ForGen

ForGen has to extract the smallest traces of DNA from various sample materials (trace carriers) for almost all analyses. To do so, the laboratory relies on the innuPREP AniPath DNA/RNA kit from Analytik Jena. “The innuPREP AniPath kit can be easily used for almost all forensically relevant trace carriers with great success,” says Dr. Jan-Hendrik Modrow, Head of Veterinary Forensics at ForGen. As an expert in forensic animal genetics, he is very familiar with the kit and its advantages for the extraction workflow. The forensic specialists use the innuPREP AniPath kit to isolate and purify minimal traces of DNA, for example, from hair, feathers, or feces, using the KingFisher FLEX (Thermo Fisher Scientific). “We use the kit as a universal kit to extract DNA from almost every conceivable potential trace carrier,” continues Modrow. Thanks to the innuPREP AniPath kits and the extraction expertise of Analytik Jena, ForGen was able to make its workflow much more efficient. “This means considerable time savings for ForGen,” explains Dr. Modrow, “as several trace types can be processed simultaneously. It also gives us a financial advantage because only one kit has to be kept available.”
 

Challenges for ForGen

The laboratory in Hamburg often extracts nucleic acids from minimal traces – sample materials that contain only very small traces of DNA and from which this DNA is correspondingly difficult to extract. The starting materials can be feces, hair, feathers, oral mucosa, blood, or tissue. To extract the DNA, ForGen uses a KingFisher FLEX device (Thermo Fisher Scientific). The extraction kits must therefore be optimized for this extraction platform.

A skilled partner

What the ForGen team particularly appreciates about Analytik Jena is their expertise and their fast, uncomplicated assistance. Dr. Modrow says, “You always have a skilled contact at Analytik Jena. There are also other experts in the company who can help if special adaptations or other changes are necessary. They always take us seriously and we get fast expert help.” The Analytik Jena service team’s support and coordination of the kits with thirdparty devices also played an important role in the decision. The innuPREP AniPath kits impressed ForGen with their efficient, targetoriented methodology, their universality, and the quality of their results. “We were able to achieve very good results here with many very difficult starting materials,” Dr. Modrow explains about the advantages for the lab. The innuPREP AniPath DNA/RNA kit – KFFLX is tailored to the KingFisher method and works with almost all sample materials that ForGen processes.
 

About ForGen

ForGen (Forensische Genetik und Rechtsmedizin am Institut für Hämatopathologie Hamburg GmbH) is a top German laboratory for forensics founded by leading experts in forensic medicine. The laboratory offers state-of-the-art molecular genetic methods for parentage analyses and trace analysis with subsequent biostatistical evaluations, among other things. ForGen’s expertise is particularly appreciated by legal authorities, courts, insurance companies and animal breeders.