What we check, and what we send you

Every lot goes through mass spectrometry before release. The certificate of analysis states the sequence as synthesised, the measured mass against the calculated mass, the purification method, the yield and the release date. It is issued with the shipment, not held until someone asks for it.

Three purification grades. Desalted is the default for unmodified primers and is fine for PCR, sequencing and most cloning. HPLC is used for probes, labelled oligos and RNA, where a failure sequence carrying a dye is worse than a lower yield. PAGE is for long oligos and for work where full-length purity matters more than how much you get back; expect to lose material to it.

The grade you ordered is printed on the COA. If we cannot deliver it we tell you before shipping rather than quietly substituting something else.

If a lot misses its stated specification we remake it or refund it, your choice. You do not have to send us gel images or argue the case first.

Getting it to you

Oligos travel lyophilised at ambient temperature. They are stable dry, which is the reason this product can sensibly be shipped across the world at all: no dry ice, no temperature logger, and no parcel sitting in a customs queue losing its cold chain.

International courier, typically 3 to 6 business days to most destinations. Remote and inland addresses take longer and we will say so when we confirm rather than after you have paid.

Duties and import taxes are set by your customs authority, not by us. Where we collect them we remit them in full; they are not a margin line. Institutions in the EU and the UK with a VAT number should enter it on the order, and VAT is handled by reverse charge.

What happens to your sequences

They are used to make your order. That is the whole list. They do not go into a catalogue, they are not mined to design products, and they are not passed to anyone beyond the people who have to synthesise and ship the tube.

You can delete a sequence from your account whenever you like. Deleting it removes it from your order history. What survives is the minimum an accountant and a QC traceability record require for a lot we have already shipped, which we are not free to erase.

We do not ask for an NDA before you order. If your institution needs one, send it over and we will sign it.

When it arrives

Dry oligos survive a week on a bench without complaining. For anything longer, keep them dry at −20 °C.

Resuspend in TE (10 mM Tris, 0.1 to 1 mM EDTA, pH 8.0) rather than water. Water is usually slightly acidic once it has sat around, and a slightly acidic solution depurinates DNA slowly enough that you will blame something else. The yield in OD or nmol is printed on the tube; the bio calculator turns that into the volume you need for a given concentration.

RNA and probes: nuclease-free buffer, aliquot before you freeze, and do not put a fluorescent probe back on the bench in the light. Freeze-thaw cycles cost you more signal than most people expect.

Design support

Free, and not conditional on an order. If the design we send back does not convince you, do not buy it.

Send a gene symbol and a species, or a construct and an application. What comes back is a proposed design with the reasoning attached: why that region, why that Tm, why that modification and not the cheaper one. Priced against the published list so you can check the arithmetic yourself.