6 ANALYTICAL AND LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
“Researchers can now transfer significantly smaller volumes while maintaining excellence in precision and accuracy. The reduction in assay volumes and elimination of disposable tips dramatically reduces cost. Data show that siRNA screening at reduced volume is superior or equal to results obtained with traditional liquid handlers.”
Mark Fischer-Colbrie, ceo and president Labcyte
during reagent transfer,” says Jörg Dennig, global product manager RNAi at QIAGEN. “Our siRNAs are provided in highly flexible formats and scales with an unlimited possibility to arrange targeted siRNA libraries according to the researchers’ needs, and with easy access via our GeneGlobe website.”
“Providing siRNA libraries in acoustically compatible microplates makes it much easier to consider high-throughput, miniaturised siRNA screening,” said Anthony Davies of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Dublin University, Ireland.
“Echo liquid handlers have already had a significant impact on drug discovery efforts in the pharmaceutical industry. Our technology is now poised to bring similar advances across a wide range of genomic and cell-based applications,” added Fischer-Colbrie. “We are pleased to work with QIAGEN in this effort.”
New from BellBrook Labs is an HTS assay for screening the regulators of G-protein signalling (RGS) proteins that influence signalling of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), an important class of proteins for the treatment of multiple diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, and CNS disorders.
Offered as an assay development service, the RGScreen assay service opens up new therapeutic strategies
for modulating GPCR pathways, including the potential to fine-tune the effects of existing GPCR ligands.
Tough these proteins have been the focus of intense investigation as potential drug targets, the lack of suitable HTS assay methods has prevented large scale screening efforts. BellBrook overcame this technical hurdle by developing proprietary G variant proteins that enable direct detection of RGS catalytic activity using its Transcreener HTS assay platform.
Te discovery of RGS proteins and their ability to attenuate GPCR signals opened up a new avenue for modulating the activity of GPCR ligands. Te exploitation of this opportunity requires robust HTS assay methods. Te most direct way to detect RGS function is by measuring the increased GTPase activity of the associated G protein. However, GTPase activity of isolated G proteins is limited by GDP dissociation, so RGS GAP activity cannot be measured using simple biochemical assays.
Te BellBrook team, collaborating with David Siderovski, a co- discoverer of the RGS protein family at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill School of Medicine, overcame this kinetic constraint by creating G protein variants with altered GTP hydrolysis and GDP dissociation rates that enable detection of RGS GAP activity using the Transcreener GDP assay.
Assay certification Renishaw Diagnostics, developer of the RenDx multiplex assay system for infectious disease research and diagnosis, has been certified to ISO 13485:2003 for the following scope: design, development, product manufacture and management of subcontracted manufacture of molecular diagnostic systems for infectious diseases.
ISO 13485 is a standard, published in 2003, that represents the requirements for a comprehensive management system for the design and manufacture of medical devices.
Allana Johstone, Renishaw Diagnostics’ head of compliance, said: “Te BSI assessor was very impressed with our QMS System, our good practices, everyone she interacted with, and the general atmosphere she observed here at RDL. Our staff should be very proud of themselves for the outstanding contribution they have all made towards this achievement. It is unusual for a company as young as ours to have manufacturing included in the scope of the certification, so we are very pleased indeed.”
Rupert Jones, general manager, said: “We are delighted to have received this certification; it reflects a significant effort by all of our staff and reinforces our commitment to quality. Te transition from an R&D company to a fully commercial organisation is a very challenging process and it is essential that we
High throughput systems for reporter-based drug screening assays T
ecan’s Infinite M1000 multimode microplate reader has enabled scientists in the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy at Georgia
Health Sciences University (GHSU), USA, to develop a high throughput system for reporter-based drug screening assays in living zebrafish disease models. Jeff Mumm, assistant professor at GHSU, explained:
“Quantitative microplate reader systems have revolutionised the pace of drug discovery, enabling the development of reporter-based in vitro and in silico assays that allow high throughput screening (HTS).
www.scientistlive.com
However, biological validation has become a bottleneck in the drug discovery process, due to a lack of HTS- compatible in vivo assay platforms. Quantifying reporter levels in living zebrafish provides a versatile means of alleviating this road block. “The flexibility of the Infinite M1000 has allowed
us to develop a simple and cost-effective automated screening method based on fluorescent or luminescent reporter detection in live zebrafish. Using this method we have been able to quantify the loss and regeneration of targeted cells in zebrafish
disease models, as well as small molecule-induced changes in disease-linked molecular signalling pathways. High signal to noise ratios allow us to monitor changes in individual fish – which accounts for wide reporter level variance across populations by normalising signals to each individual’s ground state – enabling us to detect long-term changes over several days. This powerful technique will benefit a wide variety of high throughput chemical and genetic screens in live zebrafish, potentially accelerating the validation of new drugs,” he added.
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