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The EasyBeacons™ presented here are based on the novel technology Intercalating Nucleic Acid, INA®, linked to a fluorophore and a quencher. INA® is composed of normal DNA nucleotides and Intercalating Pseudo Nucleotides (IPNs). The fact that the EasyBeacons™ are mostly composed of normal DNA nucleotides means that in many respects EasyBeacons™ behave like DNA based probes, allowing use of standard buffers, primers and enzymes and hence reduces the optimisation efforts.

The new development of Celisca, the multi-parallel high pressure reactor HPMR 50-384, offers the execution of 384 reactions in a microplate under reaction pressures and temperatures of 50 bar and 100°C. The mixing of the reagents is based on magnetically propelled stir discs. The reactor supplies an inert handling of the substances, can be integrated into laboratory robot systems and offers an LIMS interface.

Using the CTC kit (CellSearch™), cells that attached to anti-EpCAM Moab were immunomagnetically separated and used for analysis of a selected pilot set of 32 genes by real time RT-PCR. This study shows the feasibility of multiple gene expression analysis on RNA isolated from only one tumor cell. Most importantly, expression analysis of several tumor-specific genes in blood samples containing only 2 tumor cells is already possible.

The new Corning HYPERFlask vessel is designed and optimized to increase cell yield using the SelecT Automated Cell Culture System. Importantly, cell densities per unit growth area are similar to traditional single vessels resulting in approximately ten times the cell yield as traditional cell culture vessels in the same footprint. The cells grown in the HYPERFlask perform exceptionally well in cell based assays.

A number of GPCRs activated by peptide ligands were assessed using different assay technologies. It was observed that the Ec50 values obtained using htrf assays were significantly higher than those obtained with other assay platforms. This difference was not observed with a non-peptide liganded GPCR. This highlights that with the GPCRs tested the use of htrf technology may not be the most appropriate assay format for peptide liganded GPCRs.

To facilitate the rapid identification of PDE inhibitors, BellBrook Labs has developed a fluorescence polarization immunoassay that directly detects AMP and GMP. The Transcreener™ PDE Assay includes a single set of reagents - an anti-AMP/GMP antibody and fluorescent tracer - that can be used for any cyclic nucleotide PDE, providing a robust, cost-effective alternative to currently available technologies.

Market pressure exists for new paradigms to meet the demands for more rapid and reproducible cell production to keep up with advances in cell-based assays used in drug discovery and development. Novel automation platforms enable high productivity on three dimensional surfaces.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed a micro/nano particle trap that allows surface-functionalized magnetic or non-magnetic particles to be trapped with subsequent perfusion of sample, reagents and wash solutions, yielding significant (up to 5-fold) improvements in assay speed and sensitivity, while significantly reducing sample matrix effects.

The indirubins are known inhibitors of cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs), including CRK3 from the protozoan parasite Leishmania mexicana, which is essential for proliferation of the disease Leishmaniasis. Subsequent investigations into the pharmacological properties of the indirubins show them to be competitive ATPbinding site inhibitors of the CDKs.

In this study we use high-speed photography as a feedback mechanism for adjusting the Nanodrop instrument dispense settings to improve the positional dispense accuracy of low volume (nanoliter) drops. These same parameters can be investigated, with various fluid classes, to reduce deleterious effects on dispensing performance such as deflected streams, satellite formation, secondary pulses and drop deformation.