High throughput, live cell, neurite outgrowth screens can be performed in 384 well plates at rates exceeding 30,000 compounds per day without compromising data quality
With their ability to combine high content and high throughput, Explorer detection systems from Acumen Bioscience have, says the company, eliminated the need for neuritogenesis screeners to choose between speed and resolution.
For the first time, high throughput, live cell, neurite outgrowth screens can be performed in 384 well plates at rates exceeding 30,000 compounds per day, and without compromising data quality.
This capability opens up new avenues of investigation for the neurobiologist.
Physical limitations of existing sytems have, to date, restricted scientists to screens of small focussed libraries of compounds on fixed cells.
Potentially efficacious compounds may have been excluded because of the logistical difficulties running larger screens.
Furthermore the use of fixed cells of non-human origin are sub-optimal for the discovery of drugs that will be active on live human cells.
The enhanced sensitivity afforded by the Explorer laser scanning fluorescence detection systems, compared with camera-based alternatives, means that analysis can be carried out as early as two days after neurite stimulation.
An additional benefit is that working with a live cell system allows the experiment to be continued for collection of data from later timepoints.
In this way any slower acting compounds will not be overlooked.
With these advantages, Acumen thinks its Explorer is set to become the system of choice for drug discovering in field of CNS diseases.
