Iconpcr™: Powering The Next Wave Of Metagenomics And Microbiome Discovery

From N6Aug 23 2025

The scenery of metagenomics and microbiome investigation is evolving astatine breakneck speed. As sequencing technologies amended and nan request for high-resolution, bias-free microbial information grows, nan bottleneck is shifting from sequencing itself to nan value of upstream sample preparation. At nan bosom of this translator is iconPCR—a caller thermocycler level that is quickly becoming indispensable for researchers seeking to push nan boundaries of what's imaginable successful microbial profiling.

The challenge: PCR arsenic a limiting factor

For years, accepted PCR has been some a workhorse and a anemic nexus successful microbiome workflows. Fixed-cycle PCR methods often unit scientists into a guessing game: excessively fewer cycles and you consequence dropout samples; excessively galore and you present chimeras, amplification bias, and wasted sequencing capacity. The result? Compromised information quality, mislaid diversity, and labor-intensive normalization steps that slow down discovery.

PCR, successful a way, is your enemy. The much cycles that you do, everything gets worse. The iconPCR for america is really a system to limit nan number of PCR cycles and limit nan harm you do done amplification of your template molecules."

Dr. Stefan Green, Director of nan Genomics Core, Rush University

The solution: iconPCR's AutoNorm™ technology

iconPCR, developed by n6, introduces a fundamentally caller approach: per-well, real-time monitoring and adaptive cycling. Its AutoNorm exertion tracks amplification successful each good and automatically terminates PCR astatine nan optimal point, eliminating nan guesswork and batch effects of accepted workflows.

In a caller exertion statement co-marketed pinch PacBio, nan integration of iconPCR pinch PacBio's long-read sequencing unlocked a caller modular successful microbial profiling. Compared to accepted PCR, iconPCR delivered:

• Zero chimeras successful each samples
• Up to 10x much unsocial amplicon series variants (ASVs)
• Significantly higher alpha diverseness (Chao1, Shannon, Simpson indices)
• Enhanced discovery of uncommon and antecedently undetectable taxa
• 40–60% simplification successful hands-on clip and little reagent costs

The consequence is not conscionable amended data, but besides a streamlined workflow that saves time, reduces consumable use, and minimizes nan consequence of grounded libraries.

Enabling caller science: From ungraded to spacecraft

The advantages of iconPCR widen acold beyond theoretical improvements—they're already enabling breakthrough subject crossed divers applications, from biology microbiomes to nan astir challenging ultra-low biomass samples imaginable.

Dr. Eric Chow, Director of UCSF's Center for Advanced Technology, highlights nan applicable translator for high-throughput halfway facilities:

"With iconPCR, each sample's wrong 1 PCR cycle. We tin conscionable usage 1 pipette… or, if you're okay pinch samples being wrong twofold of each other, you tin conscionable propulsion an adjacent measurement pinch a multichannel going crossed a 96-well sheet and that's conscionable ace accelerated and easy."

For Dr. Chow's team, iconPCR has eliminated nan request for post-PCR quantification and laborious normalization, while besides rescuing precious samples that mightiness different fail:

"Redoing samples that driblet retired is costly… With iconPCR, you benignant of debar that rumor of a sample dropout. If you're moving pinch precious samples, knowing that you'll get capable room each clip is besides reassuring and a large benefit."

Dr. Stefan Green from Rush University has been pushing nan boundaries of what's imaginable pinch ultra-low input samples, peculiarly successful NASA's spacecraft assembly facilities. Working pinch cleanroom samples that incorporate only picogram aliases femtogram levels of DNA, his laboratory has demonstrated iconPCR's expertise to successfully amplify libraries from incredibly challenging samples:

"We've been capable to usage a mock organization down to 500 femtogram input DNA, amped pinch nan iconPCR, and still capable to retrieve each 10 organisms successful nan mock community. That's really rather exciting."

In studies pinch PacBio's Sequel II platform, iconPCR-prepared libraries from ungraded microbiomes revealed richer, much meticulous profiles, detecting cardinal microbial classes missed by modular PCR. The aforesaid principles enabling these biology discoveries are now being applied crossed objective metagenomics, large-scale biology surveys, and moreover nan astir utmost low-biomass applications for illustration NASA's cleanroom monitoring—demonstrating iconPCR's versatility successful empowering researchers to spot deeper, observe more, and accelerate nan gait of microbial find crossed each domain of life.

Industry partnership: SeqCenter's full-length 16S service

The transformative imaginable of iconPCR has gained nickname crossed nan industry. SeqCenter, a starring supplier of next-generation sequencing services, precocious announced astatine ASM Microbe 2025 their caller full-length 16S rRNA sequencing work that leverages iconPCR exertion mixed pinch PacBio's long-read sequencing platform. This business represents a important validation of iconPCR's capabilities successful delivering superior microbial profiling results.

SeqCenter's full-length 16S work provides high-accuracy sounds spanning nan full 1,500 bp 16S cistron (V1-V9 regions), offering importantly enhanced taxonomic solution compared to accepted short-read methods that attraction connected only 1 aliases 2 hypervariable regions. By incorporating iconPCR's AutoNorm technology, nan work ensures optimal amplification for each sample, eliminating nan over-amplification artifacts and under-amplification issues that person historically plagued 16S sequencing workflows.

Strategic partnership: Zymo investigation collaboration

iconPCR's effect is further validated done a strategical business pinch Zymo Research, a globally recognized leader successful molecular devices for life sciences. This collaboration combines Zymo Research's standardized ZymoBIOMICS workflows pinch n6's precision PCR exertion to reside communal symptom points successful room mentation and amplification for much reliable microbiome sequencing data.

The business demonstrates really combining Zymo Research's expertise successful DNA extraction and full-length 16S rRNA room mentation pinch iconPCR's AutoNorm exertion creates a transformative attack that reduces chimera rates and improves publication normalization compared to fixed-cycle PCR. This validation from an manufacture leader pinch complete 30 years of acquisition further underscores iconPCR's domiciled arsenic a captious enabler for next-generation microbiome research.

For researchers willing successful learning much astir this powerful combination, Zymo Research and n6 are co-hosting an upcoming webinar titled "Advancing Long-Read 16S rRNA Metagenomics: Workflow Innovations for Robust Results" on July 24, 2025. This acquisition convention will show champion practices for integrating these proven technologies to heighten workflow ratio and sequencing reproducibility.

A level for nan early of microbiome research

As NGS becomes ever much accessible and sample numbers standard into nan thousands, nan request for robust, automated, and bias-free room prep is only growing. iconPCR's unsocial approach—now validated by starring genomics cores and recognized arsenic a PacBio-compatible partner—positions it arsenic a captious enabler for nan adjacent era of microbiome and metagenomics research.

The communicative emerging from nan section is clear: by turning PCR from a liability into a precision tool, iconPCR is empowering researchers to spot deeper, observe more, and accelerate nan gait of microbial discovery.