Assessment of RNA quantities from environmental water samples using CBSAlife TRIzol (RNA Isolation) extraction kit

CBSAlife Ltd, a company based in Manitoba, supplies microbial reagents and products to the scientific community at a reduced cost. CBSAlife Ltd has prepared a newly available kit for RNA extraction and is keen on generating data that validates the efficacy of this product, required for increased sales.
In the proposed study, a total of nine 10L environmental water samples from Red River, Winnipeg, MB will be collected over a three-month period. Armored RNA, an artificial virus, will be used as spike-in control for all the samples, while Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (PMMoV) will be used an environmental marker of water quality. MilliQ water will serve as non-matrix control. Viral particles will be concentrated from the aquatic samples following a skimmed milk flocculation approach. Then viral RNA will be extracted using the RNA extraction kit supplied by CBSAlife Ltd. To assess the efficacy of this kit, extraction will also be conducted using two other commercially available kits well known for RNA extraction. RNA from all three kits will then be quantified to generate data in gene copy numbers (GCNs) per volume (mL) and per biomass (ng) of RNA.

Faculty Supervisor:

Miguel Uyaguari-Diaz

Student:

Partner:

CBSAlife

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Manitoba

Program: