[6] Rapid cycling provides several benefits, including, reduced time to result, increased system throughput and improved reaction specificity.
By using an instrument with sufficient optical channels and extensive assay optimisation, up to 7 separate targets can be simultaneously quantified in a single PCR reaction.
Multi factorial analysis has suggested that the contribution of mechanical noise is the most important factor, and that systems with no moving parts in their optical paths are likely to provide improved quantitative precision.
[10] In addition, when performing high resolution melting analyses, one factor that affects the sensitivity of heteroduplex detection is fluorimetric precision.
[14] Therefore, the number of optical channels and the level of noise in fluorescence measurements are also important performance characteristics of quantitative PCR instruments.