Rapid cell cycle screening of anticancer drugs

An innovative new single cell test/assay that provides biologists with an easy, quick and affordable way to obtain a detailed and quantitative profile of each phase of cell division has been announced by Guava Technologies.

Using a minimal number of cells, the Guava Cell Cycle Assay enables researchers to rapidly screen drug compounds or explore key pathways controlling cell growth and death.

This new assay is designed to run on Guava Technologies's easy-to-use, affordable, single-cell analysis systems for the benchtop, the Guava PCA (2003 version) and PCA-96.

"Using the Guava instrument, we can quickly obtain cell cycle distribution data from human cancer cell lines using very small numbers of cells, permitting us to monitor cell cycle arrest or perturbations in the process of cell division in response to various anti-neoplastic (anti-cancer) drugs." said William Nelson, associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University (USA) and a member of Guava's scientific advisory board.

Following easy set-up and data collection, researchers can quickly assess the percentage of cells at each phase of the cell cycle (G0/G1, S and G2/M).

This data can be used to rapidly screen drug compounds for their effects on cell division, as well as for many other research applications.

Data generated by the Guava PCA system can be exported automatically to a spreadsheet for further examination.

In addition, raw data files can be read directly by third-party software, accommodating the needs of scientists wishing to use their familiar curve-fitting algorithms of choice.

Guava's Cell Cycle Assay, like the company's other Guava PCA assays, requires only minimal numbers of cells, Guava's assay-specific, easy-to-use software, and the ultra-compact, benchtop instrument. In addition, Guava's turnkey approach to delivering sophisticated cell-based assays results in both minimal training and significant acceleration of performing assays and getting their results.