New commercial kit brings Nature Communications-validated methylation analysis chemistry to researchers working with low-input and cfDNA samples
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ellis Bio, a developer of next-generation epigenomics technologies, today announced the official commercial launch of its SuperMethyl™ Max Bisulfite Conversion Kit, a new and gentle methyl conversion solution designed for highly sensitive methylation detection from low-input and fragile DNA samples. The announcement coincides with the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) General Meeting in Orlando, FL, where Ellis Bio is a contributing sponsor.
The technology underpinning the SuperMethyl™ Max kit is the ultra-mild bisulfite chemistry, first described in Nature Communications, which demonstrated dramatically reduced DNA damage compared to all other bisulfite-based methods and dramatically improved specificity (reducing false methylation calls) compared to enzymatic methods.
The new kit translates these advances into a streamlined, commercial workflow optimized for challenging applications such as circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) liquid biopsies, minimal residual disease (MRD), early cancer detection, and AI-driven diagnostics.
“DNA methylation is one of the most powerful biomarkers for disease diagnosis and prognosis, but existing methods often compromise the very samples researchers are trying to study,” said Ruitu Lyu, Incoming CSO at Ellis Bio. “With SuperMethyl™ Max, we’ve taken a validated chemistry and engineered it into a practical, high-performance kit that preserves DNA integrity while delivering highly accurate methylation calls.”
Designed for Low-Input and High-Sensitivity Applications
SuperMethyl™ Max enables reliable methylation profiling from as little as 100 picograms of input DNA, making it well suited for liquid biopsy, minimal residual disease monitoring, analysis of cfDNA, FFPE-extracted gDNA, single-cell, and other low-input workflows.
In benchmarking studies, the kit demonstrated:
- High Specificity with near-zero false positives and false negatives. Unlike enzyme-based methods, low background was consistently observed at even the lowest input amounts.
- High Efficiency and Reproducibility with users routinely achieving 99.8% C-to-U conversion, supporting high-confidence methylation calling.
- Preserving High DNA Integrity to deliver library yields comparable to enzyme-based methods and three times higher yields than standard bisulfite approaches.
- Simplified and Rapid Workflow with the entire protocol completed in under three hours (up to five times less hands-on time compared to enzyme-based methods).
These improvements are driven by significantly reduced DNA damage during conversion, resulting in better library complexity, including improved preservation of cfDNA fragmentomics profiles, more uniform GC coverage, and higher CpG site coverage. Together, these features enable more accurate detection of subtle methylation patterns in highly fragmented or low-abundance samples, which is ideal for PCR, microarray, and next-generation sequencing.
The SuperMethyl™ Max kit was previously only available through an early access program, where researchers evaluated their kits in multiple applications. For example, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia participated as an early access evaluator of the kit for PCR-based methylation applications. Additionally, Admera Health completed third-party testing of the early access kits.
The SuperMethyl™ Max kit can now be purchased directly on the Ellis Bio website (https://ellisbio.com/supermethyl-max-bisulfite-conversion-kit/). Ellis Bio has distributor partners internationally, including PELOBiotech (EU), Stratech Scientific (UK), Eagle Biosciences (US), and AS ONE (Japan).
About Ellis Bio
Ellis Bio, Inc. is developing multi-omic tools and technologies that enable researchers, clinicians, and drug developers to capture the full complexity of the DNA and RNA landscape. Spun out of The University of Chicago and boasting Scientific Founder Professor Chuan He, Ellis Bio’s portfolio goes beyond sequencing to provide insights into the DNA and RNA modifications that drive gene expression, collectively known as the epigenome and epitranscriptome. For more information, visit https://ellisbio.com.
Contact: press@ellisbio.com
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SOURCE Ellis Bio Inc
