Paco, if you have condensation/the plates weren't sealed - does that mean that the different primer sets got mixed with each other? Or is there only one primer set per plate? But even then how do you know it's condensation, not spilled primer solution??? In which case, you'd end up with different primer concentrations in each well...

I'd call Qiagen Customer service and request a replacement, sounds like there was a production issue...

Petra

It looks that the plates are supplied like that now. I got used to the old setup from Exiqon where primers were liophilized and dry. Don't you think that this is not the right way to sell such kind of screenings?

Thanks

Paco

So liquid primers in plates without seal? How is that supposed to work??? They'll be shaken around and spill during delivery!

I really would speak to Qiagen, their customer service usually is very good. Also contact your Qiagen Rep to complain, a Rep can often get things sorted quicker.

If their only reply is to say that's how they sell it now, change supplier.

Thanks Petra

I am afraid the customer service of Qiagen in Portugal is not as good as you imagine.

Best

Sorry to hear that - I've always found their customer service here in the UK outstanding. I guess your only option is to change supplier...

Hi Petra and followers of the question

I just performed a live "unboxing" of one of the screening plates that we talked about. Check out the aspect of the condensation droplets and the lack of sealing.

Best. Paco

Only thing I can say is to call customer service, complain that your primers are all over the place in the packaging and demand replacement or refund.

Paco....this is terribile! I will check our plates on Monday and let you know. We recently bought the new plates but assumed they were liophylized.....

I do not like the Exiqon-Qiagen transition as well....we have many open projects with the past Exiqon plates and I fear that reproducibility and comparisons with ne novel plares will not be so smooth....

Thanks for letting the community know...

Dear Andrea and followers

We have finished using the plates for a screening, and the Ct values are around 1-2 cycles bigger that those observed with the Exiqon plates. I do not know if this is because of the design of the plates.

Please let me know your feedback about.

I think that we need to contact directly those people but for me is really difficult because they have local "dealers".

Best

Paco

Dear Paco, have you found a plate without condensed droplets? Is this the result of a condensed plate?

Our distributors said that also the MMix has changed and that the Qiagen one has similar performance but of course this is another variable to consider (the PCR cycle is a little bit different If I remember well).

I will send your photos to our distributor and wait their comments. I will let you know...

Dear ALL and question followers... I have complained to the customer support email from Exiqon and I received this answer from them. I will wait for further developments and I will let you know.

Best. Paco

***********************

Dear Francisco

Thank you for your mail. I can fully understand why you are not satisfied with the packaging solution. I am working on a solution for you, I just wanted you to know that you have not been forgotten. I will come back with an update as soon as I know more. You can reach me directly at this mail address and the phone numbers below, and my colleagues are available at [email protected]

Kind regards,

The saga continues

********

Dear Francisco

I just tried to reach you on the phone. We will of course issue a replacement for you, I will kindly ask you to send me a copy of your order so I can make sure the correct products are included in the replacement. Furthermore, I will again escalate your case to the responsible people, so we can find a long-term solution which is acceptable to the customers. I hope I can give you an update on the matter during next week, when the Product Manager is back in the office. We do take this very seriously, the quality of our products should never affect your research.

You are welcome to email or call me with any questions or comments, my phone number is found below.

The Qiagen's official answer to my complaints... Still not convincing to me. Anyhow... look and judge by yourselves.

Qiagen: Dear Francisco J. Enguita,

thank you very much for your prompt reply and summarizing the main issues. let me try to comment the different points and explain that you have faced a strange and non-acceptable quality of the plates. In addition, please find a letter describing the changes QIAGEN made for producing the miRCURY PCR plates to follow the QIAGEN production standards.

FE: 1.- Primers are coming resuspended in a pink liquid, instead of being liophylized as Exiqon used to do. The volume of the pink liquid where the primers are resuspended is not known (at least I have no information about). Dilution effects over the Sybrgreen mix should be taken into account.

Qiagen: Resuspended primers (liquid)  in the plate is of course a no go and a strange observation. We produce the plates with primers dried down and they always sit on the bottom of the wells. So, there is no pink liquid we resuspend the primers in. This observation is strange and was forwarded with your images to production in the US. We have never had such issue within many years of producing such plates. We can tell you that QIAGEN is producing such spotted plates with PCR Primers for more years and higher quantities than Exiqon did. Therefore, your observation is strange and a no go! QIAGEN is spotting the primers with a red dye (dried down) to visualize where the dried down primer pair sits for better and easier resuspension at the customer. We have of course tested extensively that the dye does not interfere with SYBR Green, EVA Green, any Probe label etc. We use the dye for many years in the plates without any complaint. However, as corrective action production tested the plate drying procedures again and prolonged the drying time for miRCURY plates already last year. It seems you have received one of the first batches which were produced. We are very sorry for that.

FE: 2.- We determined that Cts from Spike (UniSp6) are around 2 cycles above the "typical" Exiqon standards in the same conditions.

Qiagen: This issue we have heard from other customers as well and was cycler company depended and not observed during test for product transfer from Exiqon to QIAGEN. We corrected this and now Cqs are the same again.

FE: 3.- The most serious problem is that plates are not individually sealed, rather wrapped in a bag. Despite of the condensation issues that apparently only affected my plates in the whole world, how can you guarantee that there is no cross-contamination between primers in different wells if the plates are not sealed.

Qiagen: As mentioned above QIAGEN changed the plate production to the standard QIAGEN plate production, which is without sealing the plate. This might sound strange, but the production is safe and we produced many more plate that Exiqon this way and shipped worldwide without contamination or complaint issue. However, I understand that especially with your observed red liquid in the well such production looks like a fundamental problem. As the primers a dried down at the bottom and visible with the red dye contamination can be excluded. Here many tests have been performed in the past, of course. We are very sorry about the trouble and issues you have faced because of our manufacturing transfer and have not been inforemd in advance about the product updates. I would like to organize a replacement shipment (if you agree) that you can see that the quality of unsealed plates is the same as with Exiqon.

They also attached this PDF file to me...

Another thing they should change is the labelling of the boxes. If you buy human and mouse plates you do not find a clear indication on the label outside the box of the species. Only the code is different YAHSA for human and YAMRA (if I remember well) for mouse and rat....easy when you pick the box in a hurry from your -20..., isn't it?

Hi Andrea

Totally right... labelling and ID of the plates is a chaos. I forgot to tell these people about.