J Fathima Benazir, co-founder and CEO, Azooka Life Sciences, has announced the discovery of tinto rang, a patent-pending, food-grade nucleic acid gel stain.

“The focus of Azooka is to develop safe DNA/ RNA fluorescent stains for applications in biological sciences and genomics. tinto rangTM is the first ever food-grade nucleic acid gel stain making it the safest option currently available in the world,” said Benazir.

Further, Benazir pointed out that tinto rang is also seven times more sensitive than Ethidium Bromide. H. S. Savithri, a professor at IISc, said the best property of tinto rang is that it doesn’t alter the structure of the DNA and can be used for multiple tests. tinto rang will be available to researchers and businesses in the molecular diagnosis space in India by the second quarter of 2016.

Industry watchers say the production and easy availability of a safe nucleic acid stain in India will have a direct impact on the cost of molecular diagnostics, by eliminating import and excise duties. In addition, it will cut down handling and disposal costs. There are also plans to take it global and would be made available through partners and distributors by the end of this year.

Published on March 2, 2016