Innovative drug discovery technology based on a micro-structured chip is said to greatly facilitate electrophysiological experiments for ion channel screening
While the classical patch-clamp technique is the gold standard for ion channel investigations, it is a labour-intensive method performed only by skilled scientists.
It hence fails to meet the requirements of pharmaceutical drug testing with regards to cost and time employed per data point, says Nanion.
With the miniaturised Port-a-Patch, the company says it offers not only its first generation of throughput-optimised patch-clamp automats, but also the world's smallest patch-clamp workstation.
This innovative drug discovery technology based on a micro-structured chip greatly facilitates electrophysiological experiments for ion channel screening, it says.
As the measurements are performed in an automated manner, it makes patch clamp available also to non-electrophysiologists.
The Port-a-Patch is a complete patch clamp setup with minimum foot print and very low maintenance requirements.
It uses Nanion's planar patch clamp chips and provides high quality data on any ion channel target, says the company.
Experiments are performed on a single cell at a time, whereby whole dose response curves can be obtained from a single cell.
Due to its miniaturisation, compound consumption is extremely low (in the ul range).
The Port-a-Patch enables a fast fluid exchange on the chip, allowing for experiments not only on voltage gated, but also on ligand gated ion channels.
A software controlled perfusion system (eight channels) is also available from Nanion.
With the Port-a-Patch, Nanion says it offers a valuable tool for target validation and safety pharmacology (hERG screening), that ideally complements other high throughput screening techniques.
