Automatic Nucleic Acid Extraction Instruments: A Valuable Aid in Clinical Diagnosis”

In the field of clinical diagnosis in modern medicine, automatic nucleic acid extraction instruments are playing an indispensable role.

Their specific applications are extensive and crucial. In terms of infectious diseases, when it comes to the detection of viruses such as the novel coronavirus, influenza virus, and hepatitis B virus, these instruments can quickly and accurately extract viral nucleic acids from samples like patients’ blood, sputum, and throat swabs. This provides a powerful basis for the early diagnosis of diseases, enabling doctors to formulate treatment plans in a timely manner and effectively control the spread of diseases. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the efficient operation of automatic nucleic acid extraction instruments greatly improved the detection efficiency and became an important line of defense in epidemic prevention and control. In the diagnosis of genetic diseases, they can extract nucleic acids from samples such as amniotic fluid and chorionic villi to detect whether the fetus carries disease-causing genes, facilitating prenatal diagnosis and reducing the birth rate of children with genetic diseases. For tumor diagnosis, nucleic acids are extracted from samples such as tumor tissues and peripheral blood. By analyzing the mutation and expression of specific genes, doctors can determine the tumor type, stage, and evaluate the prognosis, thereby formulating personalized treatment strategies for patients.

Automatic nucleic acid extraction instruments have many remarkable advantages. Firstly, they have a high degree of automation. From sample lysis to the final elution of nucleic acids, a series of complex steps can be completed automatically, reducing errors and time consumption that may be caused by manual operations. Secondly, the extraction efficiency is extremely high, and a large number of samples can be processed in a short time, meeting the timeliness requirements in clinical testing. Moreover, the extracted nucleic acids have high purity and stable quality, thanks to their precise temperature control, accurate liquid dispensing system, and advanced nucleic acid separation technology, which provides a reliable sample basis for subsequent gene detection, fluorescence quantitative PCR and other experiments.

However, there are also some precautions during the use process. The collection and storage of samples are of vital importance, and they must be operated in strict accordance with the specifications to prevent sample degradation or contamination. The daily maintenance of the instrument cannot be ignored. Regular cleaning and calibration of the liquid dispensing system and temperature control system should be carried out to ensure that the instrument is in the best working state. Meanwhile, appropriate supporting reagents should be selected to ensure the quality and stability of the reagents. Only in this way can the automatic nucleic acid extraction instruments give full play to their advantages in clinical diagnosis and safeguard the health of patients.