Clontech Laboratories, Inc. releases the SMART-Seq v4 Ultra Low Input RNA Kit for the Fluidigm C1 System

New kit for single-cell transcriptome analysis offers vast improvement over the sensitivity of current technologies

Mountain View, CA—April 6, 2016—Clontech Laboratories, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., and Fluidigm Corporation today announced the recent launch of Clontech's SMART-Seq v4 Ultra Low Input RNA Kit for the Fluidigm C1 System. This kit, which is available for 4 and 10 IFCs (integrated fluidic circuits), allows high-quality cDNA synthesis starting from 96 single cells that have been isolated and processed with the Fluidigm C1 System, using a script available in the Fluidigm Script Hub.

"Like our other SMART-Seq v4 products, the SMART-Seq v4 Ultra Low Input RNA Kit for the Fluidigm C1 System provides higher sensitivity (a larger number of genes detected), more accurate expression data for genes with high GC content, and a higher yield of cDNA compared to existing chemistry," commented Andrew Farmer, Vice President of Research and Development at Clontech Laboratories, Inc. "This chemistry also produces higher consistency among replicates. This is important because the reduced technical variations will increase the likelihood of discovering true biological variations."

"We firmly believe that enabling systems biology at single-cell resolution is critical to identifying important cell populations and their functional role in health and disease," said Pete Betzelos, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Fluidigm. "We are pleased that Clontech continues to develop innovative chemistries with increased sensitivity to detect more complex and low-abundance transcripts, while reducing the cost for each study to make it more accessible to all laboratories."

"The SMART-Seq v4 Ultra Low Input RNA Kit for the Fluidigm C1 System continues our tradition of advancing single-cell RNA-seq technology, in a kit designed for a premier automation system that enables researchers to collect data from 96 single cells in parallel," said Carol Lou, President of Clontech Laboratories, Inc. "Our NGS product development continues to focus on providing better solutions to customers, enabling them to perform significant research in a wide variety of biological fields where single-cell data is critical, especially those where homogeneous populations are elusive, such as cancer research, developmental biology, neurobiology, and immunology."

On April 18, 2016, Clontech will be hosting a webinar titled "Evaluating the SMART-Seq v4 Method for mRNA-Seq with the Fluidigm C1 System" demonstrating the type of data that can be obtained using the SMART-Seq v4 Ultra Low Input RNA Kit for the Fluidigm C1 System.

For more information about the kit or to sign up to attend this webinar, please visit www.clontech.com/SMART-Seq-for-Fluidigm-Webinar.

About Clontech Laboratories, Inc.

Clontech Laboratories, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., develops, manufactures, and distributes a wide range of life science research reagents under the Takara, Clontech, and Cellartis brands. Key products include SMART cDNA synthesis kits for a variety of samples and applications, including NGS; high-performance qPCR and PCR reagents (including the Takara Ex Taq, Takara LA Taq, Titanium, and Advantage enzymes); Cellartis stem cells and stem cell reagents; RT enzymes and SMART library construction kits; the innovative In-Fusion cloning system; Guide-it gene editing tools; Tet-based inducible gene expression systems; and Living Colors fluorescent proteins. These and other products support applications including NGS; gene discovery, regulation, and function studies; protein expression and purification; RNAi, gene editing, and stem cell studies; and plant and food research.

For more information, visit www.clontech.com.

About Takara Bio Inc.

Takara Bio Inc. is an innovative biotechnology company based in Shiga, Japan. As a world leader in biotechnology research and development, Takara Bio was the first company to market PCR technology in Japan and is also the developer of the RetroNectin reagent, which is used as a world standard in gene therapy protocols. In addition to providing research reagents and equipment to the life science research market, Takara Bio has active research and product development activities in the fields of gene and cell-based therapy and agricultural biotechnology; and is committed to preventing disease and improving the quality of life for all people through the use of biotechnology. Through strategic alliances with other industry leaders, Takara Bio aims to extend its reach around the world.

More information is available at www.takara-bio.com.

About Fluidigm

Fluidigm (NASDAQ:FLDM) develops, manufactures, and markets life science analytical and preparatory systems for growth markets such as single-cell biology and production genomics. We sell to leading academic institutions, clinical laboratories, and pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agricultural biotechnology companies worldwide. Our systems are based on proprietary microfluidics and multi-parameter mass cytometry technology, and are designed to significantly simplify experimental workflow, increase throughput, and reduce costs, while providing excellent data quality. Fluidigm products are provided for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. Fluidigm, the Fluidigm logo, and C1 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fluidigm Corporation.

For more information, visit www.fluidigm.com.

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