On Mar. 21, 2022, Twist Bioscience announced the launch of specific synthetic RNA positive controls for SARS-CoV-2 encapsulated in proprietary stainless steel minicapsules provided by Imagene SA.

The airtight minicapsules provide a stable environment for the RNA controls, allowing cost-effective shipping and storage at room temperature of fragile RNA for an extended period. In particular, this product enhancement enabled Twist to serve customers in regions that do not have an effective cold chain system or easy access to ultra-cold storage and also may allow the use of the controls in point of care settings.

This was an expansion of Twist’s first agreement with Imagene in July 2019 to use Imagene’s DNAshell technology for the long-term storage of digital data encoded in DNA, with the DNA remaining stable for thousands of years. Using Imagene’s encapsulation technology, Twist has the ability to ship and store both DNA and RNA products anywhere in the world for long periods of time.

Stable shipping and storage is particularly important for inherently unstable molecules such as RNA which rapidly breaks down at room temperature and typically requires ultra-cold storage at temperatures of -80° C. Maintaining this temperature requires specialized equipment with significant energy requirements.