Latest Posters

At Southern Research Institute we routinely conduct HTS campaigns using infectious agents at the BSL-2 (Biosafety Level) and BSL-3 level. Here we discuss how we have successfully screened over one million compounds in anti-viral (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Influenza, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) and anti-microbial (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis) screens in BSL-2 and BSL-3 containment.

Fluorescence microplate cytometers are heavily used in oncology research including cell proliferation and cell cycle analysis using the DNA stain propidium iodide (488 nm excitation). Here, we describe the extension of this capability through the use of DNA stains, Hoechst 34580 (405 nm) and TO-PRO®-3 (633 nm) on an Acumen eX3, and discuss the potential for multiplexing in immunodetection assays.

Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET) is a system for monitoring intermolecular interactions in vivo. The BRET2™ demo kit has been used to prove the feasibility of performing a BRET assay on the POLARstar OPTIMA microplate reader. The POLARstar OPTIMA’s internal reagent injectors for 384-well plate format combined with high-end simultaneous dual emission detection offer a unique advantage for fast kinetic assays where simultaneous emission detection at two wavelengths is required.

By multiplexing a reporter assay (EnduRen™, ViviRen™) with a cell viability assay (CellTiter-Glo®), it is possible to determine if reporter response variations are due to changes in cell number and health. In this poster, we demonstrate the combination of several Promega cell-based assays multiplexed in both low-volume 384- and 1536-well plate formats using the BMG LABTECH PHERAstar microplate reader to record luminescence.

Today’s high-throughput screening facilities face increasing demands to generate more information from their existing compound libraries. In this poster, we demonstrate the combination of several Promega cell-based assays (CellTiter-Blue®, Apo-One® and Caspase-Glo® 3/7) multiplexed in both low-volume 384 and 1536-well plate formats. The BMG LABTECH PHERAstar microplate reader is used to record both luminescence and fluorescence, depending on the multiplex combination.

Cryopreserved hepatocytes express both phase I and phase II enzymes and facilitate early evaluation of the metabolic stability of pharmaceuticals. Availability of pre-pooled cryopreserved hepatocytes further enhances the utility of this model by reducing donor to donor variability. In this study, the metabolic stability of 29 pharmaceutical compounds were evaluated in pre-pooled cryopreserved human hepatocytes.

With the use of numerous standardized biochemical assays now commonplace, successful application of screening technologies requires accurate and meaningful handling of the experimental results. Specifically, this means capturing the vast data volumes generated and subsequent validation and verification. Decision making can be supported via comprehensive and intuitive visualization of results.

Image-based high-content screening assays, demand solutions for image segmentation and cellular compartment encoding to track critical events – for example those presented by GFPreporters within cell cycle tracking and GPCR translocation assays. We have designed nuclear and cytoplasm discriminator CyTRAK™ probes - spectrally compatible with all variants of GFPreporters offering new solutions in cytometry.

New technologies are needed to deal with live cell-based HCS assays on non-adherent cells or to exploit suspension cells in fluidic systems. Here we describe CyGEL™ - a thermo-reversible hydrogelbased 4-D immobilization technology for live cell location without imposing an anchoring to a substrate.

To facilitate high throughput screening of renin inhibitors, we have developed new renin assay kits utilizing FRET peptide substrates. The SensoLyte™ 520 Renin Assay Kit contains FRET peptide labeled with the quencher QXL™520 and the fluorophore 5-FAM. These newly developed assays were validated with several known renin inhibitors. Assay with QXL™ 520/5-FAM substrate was approximately 40 fold more sensitive than an existing assay which uses EDANS/DABCYL FRET substrate.