The Life Science division of Meridian Bioscience, Inc. has launched the industry’s first liquid qPCR master mixes proven stable for over 12 months at ambient temperatures and shippable with oligos without compromising performance.
This eliminates the need for refrigeration, freezing, or freeze-drying, offering a level of flexibility and convenience not previously available in liquid formats. The new mixes expand Meridian’s portfolio of ambient-stable molecular reagents while simplifying logistics, reducing costs, and delivering sustainable solutions for assay developers and high-throughput automation users across all settings — from point-of-care (POC) to centralised labs.
For decades, the molecular diagnostics industry has relied on two primary methods to preserve liquid reagents: maintaining a continuous cold chain or converting them into a dry format through processes such as lyophilization. Both add expense, complexity, and potential points of failure to the supply chain. Meridian’s new liquid formulations maintain full performance after more than 12 months at ambient temperatures (15-25°C), with reliability even after extended exposure to 50°C. The key benefit for assay developers is the ability to build and supply assays without the cost, potential delays, environmental impact or other transport risks of cold-chain shipping. End-users in hospitals, reference labs, or point-of-care settings can store the assays at room temperature with confidence in performance.
Meridian offers the new ambient-stable liquid mixes in two formats:
Liquid Stable Ready Mix – A qPCR master mix formulated for manufacturers creating ready-to-use assays. It demonstrates proven performance for over 12 months at ambient temperature and for over two weeks at 50°C, even in presence of oligos (primers and probes). This mix is designed for high-throughput assay developers, manufacturing assay kits for large-scale use, with primers and probes stabilised directly in the mix for a true ready-to-use format.
Liquid Stable Flex Mix – A qPCR master mix that can be stored and shipped without cold chain while maintaining full functionality for more than 12 months. Primers and probes are added by the end-user at the point of use, offering maximum flexibility in assay design. This mix enables labs and developers running flexible formats to validate the mix against a broad menu of targets, while giving their customers the option to select and run specific targets at point of use, on demand.
“The new master mixes give assay developers the flexibility to choose the format that best supports their workflow,” said Florent Chang-Pi-Hin, vice president, R&D at Meridian Life Science.
“They can now design ready-to-use assays without the cost and risk of cold chain and lyophilization and empower their customers with tests that remain stable at ambient temperatures for ultimate convenience. Both options reduce labour, turnaround time, and error risk, while making it easier to deliver scalable, automation-friendly assays, even in decentralized or point-of-care settings.”
Jim Cornall is editor of Deeptech Digest and publisher at Ayr Coastal Media. He is an award-winning writer, editor, photographer, broadcaster, designer and author. Contact Jim here.
