PAXgene® Saliva Collectors (25)

QIAGEN offers a non-invasive saliva collection device designed for self-collection, stabilization, transport, and storage of human saliva for molecular biology applications. The plastic unit consists of a funnel attached to a collection tube that enables collection of 2.0 mL of human saliva, with an inner cavity containing 1.0 mL of stabilizing solution released upon unscrewing the funnel. The stabilizing solution has bacteriostatic properties that inhibit bacterial growth and is free of crosslinking or nucleic-acid modifying substances. Saliva specimens can be self-collected at home or outside of a doctor's office without trained professionals.

Stabilized saliva samples maintain DNA levels for up to 24 months at room temperature (15–25°C), with frozen storage at −20 to −80°C under an ongoing long-term study. The device also stabilizes SARS-CoV-2-derived RNA copy numbers for up to 4 days at 37°C, while inactivating the virus so it cannot infect or replicate in a cell culture model. Yield reaches 10–20 µg human DNA/ml saliva, with a purity of 1.7–1.9 (A260/A280) and fragment size >23 kb. Shelf life is 36 months from the date of manufacture at 15–30°C.

The collected sample is compatible with QIAGEN manual and automated extraction workflows, including the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit, Puregene Cell Kit, and QIAsymphony DNA Midi Kit on the QIAsymphony SP instrument at 400 and 1000 µl sample input volumes, as well as the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit on the QIAcube (Classic) and QIAcube Connect. SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be isolated with the QIAamp Viral RNA Mini Kit and detected with QuantiTect Probe RT-PCR and SARS-CoV-2 N1+N2 Assay Kits on the Rotor-Gene Q. Isolated nucleic acids are suited to downstream molecular test methods including qPCR, dPCR, and NGS.