Research Unit

The digital PCR Core

Acronym
DIGPCR Core
Duration
01 February 2025 → Ongoing
Research disciplines
  • Medical and health sciences
    • Molecular diagnostics
    • Nucleic acids
Keywords
PCR-based quantification RNA nucleic acids DNA dPCR digital PCR PCR
Description
The Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction Core facility (DIGPCR) will bring together the infrastructure and expertise on digital PCR at Ghent University that is already present in our cross-faculty DIGPCR Center. Digital PCR is an emerging method for absolute quantification of target nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and is increasingly gaining interest from molecular labs in academia and industry to make this the preferred platform for such analyses. In 2017, we founded the interfaculty DIGPCR SVO (with members across three faculties) mainly as a research and educational hub for digital PCR which now has become an internationally known expertise center. The unique nature of our DIGPCR Center is that we cover the entire workflow from experiment design, assay design & validation, data generation, data analysis with in-house developed (statistical) workflows and reporting. Over the last years, we have received increasing interest from researchers intra and extra muros to collaborate on this technology both in terms of assay development, conducting (clinical) studies on our dPCR platforms, and data analysis. This DIGPCR core will enable to professionalize and expand these (non-educational) services.