NanoInk Announces Launch of Contract Services Program for Live Single Cell Assay Work
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NanoInk's(R) NanoFabrication Systems Division announced today that it introduced a new contract services program dedicated to the development of live single cell array assays. This offering supplements NanoInk's portfolio of Dip Pen Nanolithography(R) (DPN(R))-based systems and tools used for micro and nanopatterning applications to include a service component. Life scientists now have even more ways to access the advantages of DPN for their research.
At the heart of the NanoFabrication Systems' contract services program is its DPN nanofabrication instruments capable of constructing complex multiplexed patterns of biocompatible materials at sub-cellular scales. This capability can be utilized to construct defined microenvironments for attaching live single cells and subsequently investigating cellular responses. Single cells (up to 5,000 individual cells on a single NanoInk chip) can be exposed to different external stimuli (including biological, chemical and topographical stimuli) and the downstream effects of these stimuli can be monitored at the cellular, proteomic or genomic levels. Additionally, studies on limited or rare cells harvested from a patient can potentially be exposed to many conditions, making theranostic applications possible. This new contract services program will enable researchers to engage NanoInk to design, develop and construct custom single cell assays.
"We believe that NanoInk's single cell assay technology has the potential to revolutionize in vitro cell biology research, including applications in drug toxicity testing and drug screening. Micropatterned single cells can also be harnessed to probe underlying mechanisms of cell behavior like cell-cell interactions, cell-surface interactions, cell migration, and cell invasion," explained Tom Warwick, general manager of the NanoFabrication Systems Division.
NanoInk has already demonstrated the ability of its nanofabrication platform to place single cells at defined locations on a substrate and to then expose individual cells to small molecules and nanoparticles.
Saju Nettikadan, Ph.D., director of applications development at NanoInk, said, "NanoInk findings also show that two different cell types can be placed at defined locations on a single chip to form single cell co-cultures. We have demonstrated the single cell co-culture proof-of-concept using 3T3 fibroblasts and C2C12 myoblasts. As part of our live single cell assay contract research program, we welcome requests to design and develop custom assays."
