In 1938, Warren Weaver, an American scientist and mathematician and director of the Rockefeller Foundation, foresaw a development of biology at the molecular level based on the developments of other disciplines such as X-ray crystallography, which allowed the analysis of the structure of molecules.
Since the 1970s, molecular biology has been recognised as the branch of biology that studies living beings at the level of the molecular mechanisms underlying their physiology, focusing particularly on the interactions between macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. In the evolution of terminology, in addition to the scientific discipline, today, molecular biology can also indicate the set of techniques that make it possible to detect, analyse, manipulate and clone nucleic acids.
Over the last 50 years, increasingly sophisticated genetic engineering techniques (understood as the set of DNA manipulation technologies) have been developed and, as a result, the working scheme of molecular biology has evolved: based on isolating a gene, identifying its product, characterising its regulation, solving its three-dimensional structure and determining its mechanism of action in relation to its cellular function.
Innovations have not yet come to an end: whereas until a few years ago, this discipline was confined to the field of research and advanced diagnostics and was only available in specialised centres, much has changed today. There are more and more public and private centres and institutes offering molecular biology services, but due to the necessary high specialisation of personnel, reagents and expensive equipment, as well as the need for specific certifications, it is often not easy to identify the most reliable service provider.
Since 2003, BioRep has acquired special skills in R&D in Molecular Biology, placing them at the service of the various themes of Biomedical Sciences (Health, Environmental, Agricultural, Veterinary, Pharmaceutical and Food Biotechnologies).
BioRep’s molecular biology laboratory has optimised a wide variety of genetic tests, enabling analyses and studies ranging from molecular oncology, pharmacogenetics and nutrigenomics to the analysis of genetic markers for specific diseases.
The aim is to offer all organisations (both private and public) high quality in service molecular biology solutions: from nucleic acid purification, to sequencing, to genotyping.
BioRep‘s qualified staff can offer a complete scientific and technical consultancy service for the creation of personalised methods for the analysis of nucleic acids by adopting techniques and protocols suitable for their analysis, such as: purification of nucleic acids from different sources, choice of appropriate primers, amplification and final sequence analysis.
BioRep proposes a continuous development of services, in step with technological progress. The quality of the analyses is guaranteed through: participation in external quality assessment programmes at national and international level, standardisation of all processes and rapidity in carrying out the analyses by means of operational tools and protocols that enable the result to be obtained simply, quickly and verifiably at every step.
The services provided by BioRep are also able to support organisations and institutions worldwide in performing customised services at the interface between molecular biology and related disciplines such as genetics and biochemistry in order to pursue the effective implementation of personalised medicine with the ultimate aim of protecting human health.