3Brain AG has introduced a new technology based on a unique combination of microchips and AI that promises to change the way drug candidates are selected at the preclinical level to enter into clinical trials – and to maximize their chances of success.
Using CorePlate™ technology, preclinical cell assays are performed in multiwell plates that integrate a microchip in each well to collect rich information from cells, pre-process cell data and streamline it to the paired software. As a result, much more and better data can be extracted, which can be referred to as cell big data. This is fed to an AI with the aim of simplifying interpretation and enabling researchers to discover more information about drugs being tested.
Preclinical studies are vital for early identification of any safety and efficacy issues, and for increasing the chance of success of those drugs entering clinical trials. However, common estimates show that there is still a lot to improve in this area as 90% of the drugs that enter into human trials fail. Among the factors responsible for this high failure rate are the limitations of conducting preclinical tests on animal models. The vast majority of drugs that pass tests on animals do not later work on humans because disease mechanisms vary significantly between species.
New biotechnologies like human stem cells offer more successful alternatives to animal models. These may be in the form of cell culture assays or more sophisticated spheroid and organoid assays that can be used as testbeds for drugs. Human cell-based assays hold the promise to revolutionize drug development, improving the success rate and pushing animal tests towards extinction.
Whatever cell-based assay one wants to investigate, traditional approaches extract cell information via optical systems or a few sensors embedded in plastic substrates. Typically, these substrates are multiwell plates with 24, 96 or even more wells, where each well houses the cell samples to be measured. From these wells, the acquired information travels on limited bandwidth across long distances (compared to the cell size) before reaching a CPU where it gets processed. Long distances and bandwidth issues affect the quality and quantity of information and, consequently, prevent an accurate inspection of cell networks. The CorePlate technology devised by 3Brain disrupts this paradigm by bringing the processing unit in contact with the cells.
“We want to radically change the way preclinical drug screening is performed, offering pharmaceutical companies the opportunity to manage their pipelines more efficiently,” says Mauro Gandolfo, CEO and co-founder of 3Brain AG. “Basically, we take traditional plastic multiwell plates and we turn them into intelligent devices with multi-core processing power, which can be programmed according to research needs. Integrated intelligence is a remarkable distinction from other instruments in the preclinical space. Importantly, despite the large amounts of data CorePlate devices can process, the user can still easily generate results thanks to the AI-driven interpretation of data. With the CorePlate technology, pharmaceutical companies can save time and money by better filtering and prioritizing drug candidates. Our ultimate goal is to provide our users with tools that help them more readily identify new cures for diseases.”
Thermo Fisher Scientific unveils Mass Spectrometer designed for small molecule analysis
Laboratory, /in Product News /by panglobalSmall molecule researchers in academia, pharmaceutical, and biopharmaceutical industries can now use a new, intelligent mass spectrometer (MS) to reveal complex chemical structures with confidence, ease and experimental versatility.
The Thermo Scientific Orbitrap IQ-X Tribrid mass spectrometer has been designed specifically for small-molecule structural elucidation of metabolites and unknown compounds. The wide range of applications include metabolomics and lipidomics research, leachable/extractable impurities identification and forensic toxicology. The MS system provides a fit-for-purpose, new AcquireX workflow enabled by the trusted Thermo Scientific Tribrid architecture to acquire high-quality data. Performance is enhanced by a new Met-IQ workflow that leverages real-time library search with on-the-fly intelligent MS² spectral matching for decision-based triggering of MSⁿ scan events, providing higher confidence for chemical annotation.
“Along with the enhanced intelligence-based data acquisition, the Orbitrap IQ-X Tribrid MS also uses the new Auto-Ready ion source for automated, remote, and walkaway-calibration enabling the researcher to spend more time obtaining results and less time on instrument setup. Traditionally, ultra-high resolution and accurate mass calibration has been challenging and time consuming. The new system offers researchers higher sample throughput with increased ease-of-use,” said Iain Mylchreest, vice president, research and development, analytical instruments, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
The Orbitrap IQ-X Tribrid MS utilizes enhanced Thermo Scientific AcquireX workflows for increased sample throughput and ease-of-use. The MS system provides improved fragmentation for small-molecule analysis with options to add to the platform’s experimental flexibility. An ultraviolet photodissociation (UVPD) option provides insights on the lipid double-bond localization, site specific glucuronidation, and complementary fragmentation for structure assignment while the 1,000,000 (1M) resolution option improves confidence for unknown analysis and fine isotope detection.
Sphere Fluidics and ClexBio introduce CYTRIX Microfluidic Hydrogel Kit
, /in Product News /by panglobalSphere Fluidics, a company commercializing single cell analysis systems underpinned by its patented picodroplet technology, and ClexBio, a pioneer in solutions for tissue engineering and single-cell techniques, have launched the biocompatible CYTRIX Microfluidic Hydrogel Kit. The kit combines ClexBio’s novel CYTRIX Hydrogel with Sphere Fluidics’ specially designed Pico-Gen™ double aqueous biochip to allow the plug-and-play generation of defined, reproducible and tailorable hydrogel microstructures for 3D cell culture, organoids, single-cell analysis, and many other applications. This allows researchers to study valuable cells over many weeks rather than days in defined microenvironments that mimic the natural extracellular matrix.
The CYTRIX Hydrogel overcomes the challenges of existing microfluidic hydrogel formation techniques, such as clogging, finicky temperature control or time-critical mixing procedures. It offers cytocompatibility and microfluidic-optimized gelation kinetics, providing researchers with a cell-friendly solution to reduce the effect of harmful temperatures, pH changes and use of UV-light required for existing hydrogel formation techniques. Paired with the Sphere Fluidics Pico-Gen double aqueous biochip and microfluidics, the CYTRIX Hydrogel enables efficient encapsulation of mammalian cells, bacteria, and other microorganisms in a homogeneous and defined extracellular matrix that supports cell viability.
Dr. Xin Li, Associate Director of Science at Sphere Fluidics said: “The CYTRIX Microfluidic Hydrogel Kit mimics the 3D microenvironment and help researchers explore the potential of hydrogel-based microfluidics in tissue engineering, drug discovery and regenerative medicine over many weeks.”
Dr. Armend Håti, CEO and Co-Founder of ClexBio said: “This exciting collaboration with Sphere Fluidics has enabled us to deliver one of the first commercial solutions that allows simple and cell-friendly formation of cell-laden microgels, lengthening the time that researchers can study the contents of microspheres.”
ENPICOM to integrate renowned structural antibody prediction tools developed at the University of Oxford
, /in Product News /by panglobalENPICOM, an innovative bioinformatics software engineering company, has announced it will expand the IGX Platform’s capabilities towards advanced liability prediction. At the Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics virtual conference, the company revealed its plans to integrate the Structural Antibody Prediction Platform (SAbPred) developed by researchers at the University of Oxford.
“SAbPred is a widely recognized and validated tool developed by experts in molecular biology. While our team harbours a lot of knowledge in bioinformatics and software engineering, we believe this powerful combination brings the best of the two worlds. We are elevating our current platform capabilities and deliver an exceptional experience to antibody and vaccine developers looking for a more rapid, efficient, and reliable antibody discovery solution,” said Jos Lunenberg, co-founder and CEO at ENPICOM.
“We’re very excited to see Oxford Protein Informatics Group’s SabPred tools incorporated into ENPICOM’s IGX Platform. This collaboration will open the door for new users to apply our software to the structural analysis of antibodies,” said Fergus Boyles, Research Software Engineer at University of Oxford.
Enabling structural liability analysis at scale
Oxford researchers have developed SAbPred to perform various predictions of antibody properties that can support the discovery process and antibody design. The software helps study antibody properties and generate valuable information for developability potential of antibody candidates. SAbPred is currently used by leading biopharmaceutical companies to improve the design of antibody-based therapeutics.
By integrating SAbPred tools into the IGX Platform, ENPICOM allows scientists to apply the sophisticated algorithms to analyse high-throughput sequencing data inside the scalable and intuitive environment. This integration unlocks new antibody discovery workflows like performing structural analysis of proteins of interest and annotating important liability characteristics to select antibody candidates with good developability properties.
CytoSMART expands long-term fluorescence live-cell imaging possibilities for simultaneous comparative studies
Laboratory, /in Product News /by panglobalCytoSMART Technologies has launched two new fluorescence live-cell imaging systems – the Lux3 FL Duo Kit and the Multi Lux3 FL. The CytoSMART Lux3 FL Duo Kit is a compact and cost-effective imaging system consisting of two fluorescence microscopes, designed for side-by-side comparison of cell cultures. The CytoSMART Multi Lux3 FL fluorescence live-cell imaging system consists of four compact Lux3 FL devices, equipped with two fluorescent (green and red) and one brightfield channel, and designed for long-term comparative studies and larger research teams.
Both systems operate from within a standard CO2-incubator or hypoxia chamber, allowing to analyse cells in their desired culture environment. Each system of two and four microscopes is connected to a single laptop, maximizing precious laboratory space. Monitoring and analysis of the running experiments can be done at any time from anywhere via the CytoSMART Cloud.
Jan-Willem van Bree, CTO at CytoSMART Technologies, said: “Last year we launched our first fluorescence live-cell imager, the CytoSMART Lux3 FL, and our customers were pleased with its performance and expanded research possibilities. This year we decided to scale up fluorescence live-cell imaging possibilities by launching two new advanced systems: the Lux3 FL Duo Kit and the Multi Lux3 FL. We always aim to develop and offer versatile and flexible solutions to life scientists. For example, the Multi Lux3 FL allows to run up to four individual imaging experiments simultaneously, without affecting the time-lapse imaging experiments of other lab members. This is a very convenient lab equipment for every research group that studies cell viability, co-culture models, single-cell migration, and many other cell-based assays can benefit from it.”
The main features and benefits of the CytoSMART fluorescence live-cell imaging systems include:
and the CytoSMART Multi Lux3 FL.
BioChromato develops optimized tube plate for enzyme studies
Laboratory, /in Product News /by panglobalBioChromato has developed an enzyme assay product – the RAPID Tube Plate 600 (TP-600) that is helping deliver outstanding results in in vitro metabolic stability studies.
The TP-600 is manufactured from ultra-pure polypropylene that does not contain any enzyme inhibitors such as EDTA or other contaminants that may degrade your assay results. In addition, the TP-600 is guaranteed to be Human DNA, DNase and RNase free. Used with a BioChromato aluminium heating block the TP-600 is designed to provide superior thermal distribution between and in individual tube plate wells ensuring high consistency in results after incubation.
With a wide operating range of -80°C to +130°C the integrity of your TP-600 is unaffected by cryogenic storage or autoclave sterilisation at 121°C.
The TP-600’s ANSI / SLAS compliant footprint and large 600 µL capacity per well provides the flexibility for this enzyme assay tube plate to be used in both manual and automated applications including pharmacokinetic assays, metabolic stability studies, high throughput screening and cold storage.
Bio-Rad introduces 3 StarBright violet dyes for flow cytometry
Laboratory, /in Product News /by panglobalBio-Rad Laboratories has introduced three StarBright dyes designed for flow cytometry applications.
StarBright Violet 570, 670, and 710 dyes offer improved brightness and precise excitation and emission spectra, making them suitable for use in multicolour flow cytometry panels. Bio-Rad’s line of StarBright dyes offers researchers a range of fluorescent nanoparticles conjugated to highly validated flow antibodies.
“The new StarBright dyes offer improved brightness when compared to other available dyes at similar wavelengths, and they may be used with a wide range of flow cytometers,” said Mike Blundell, PhD, Bio-Rad Product Manager, Flow Cytometry, Life Science Group. “The unique profile of the dyes offers enhanced resolution of rare populations and low-density antigens as well as consistent and reproducible staining.”
Key benefits of StarBright dyes
The StarBright Dyes are compatible with Bio-Rad’s ZE5 Cell Analyzer, S3e Cell Sorter, and other conventional and spectral flow cytometers.
Avacta announces EU registration of its AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Lateral Flow Test
, /in Product News /by panglobalAvacta Group, the developer of diagnostics and innovative cancer therapies based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms, has received notice of registration of its AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test in the EU allowing the company to market the product in the EU for professional use.
Lateral flow antigen tests are intended to provide a cost effective and rapid means of identifying individuals with a high viral load that means they are more likely to infect others. The clinical data for Avacta’s AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test reported 20 April 2021, demonstrated 100% sensitivity for identifying infectious individuals with viral loads measured by PCR of Ct<27.
Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group, commented: “The EU is an important market for us, and the product registration is a key commercialisation milestone.
“The results of the recent clinical evaluation of the test at a clinical site in Europe demonstrate the test has excellent sensitivity across a range of viral loads, which would be considered infectious. This excellent performance and ease of nasal sampling, coupled with the fact that the AffiDX test is has been developed in the UK, is based on UK technology and is manufactured in the UK, are huge selling points for customers in Europe.”
3Brain’s CorePlate technology combines microchips and AI in a revolutionary new approach to drug discovery
Laboratory, /in Product News /by panglobal3Brain AG has introduced a new technology based on a unique combination of microchips and AI that promises to change the way drug candidates are selected at the preclinical level to enter into clinical trials – and to maximize their chances of success.
Using CorePlate™ technology, preclinical cell assays are performed in multiwell plates that integrate a microchip in each well to collect rich information from cells, pre-process cell data and streamline it to the paired software. As a result, much more and better data can be extracted, which can be referred to as cell big data. This is fed to an AI with the aim of simplifying interpretation and enabling researchers to discover more information about drugs being tested.
Preclinical studies are vital for early identification of any safety and efficacy issues, and for increasing the chance of success of those drugs entering clinical trials. However, common estimates show that there is still a lot to improve in this area as 90% of the drugs that enter into human trials fail. Among the factors responsible for this high failure rate are the limitations of conducting preclinical tests on animal models. The vast majority of drugs that pass tests on animals do not later work on humans because disease mechanisms vary significantly between species.
New biotechnologies like human stem cells offer more successful alternatives to animal models. These may be in the form of cell culture assays or more sophisticated spheroid and organoid assays that can be used as testbeds for drugs. Human cell-based assays hold the promise to revolutionize drug development, improving the success rate and pushing animal tests towards extinction.
Whatever cell-based assay one wants to investigate, traditional approaches extract cell information via optical systems or a few sensors embedded in plastic substrates. Typically, these substrates are multiwell plates with 24, 96 or even more wells, where each well houses the cell samples to be measured. From these wells, the acquired information travels on limited bandwidth across long distances (compared to the cell size) before reaching a CPU where it gets processed. Long distances and bandwidth issues affect the quality and quantity of information and, consequently, prevent an accurate inspection of cell networks. The CorePlate technology devised by 3Brain disrupts this paradigm by bringing the processing unit in contact with the cells.
“We want to radically change the way preclinical drug screening is performed, offering pharmaceutical companies the opportunity to manage their pipelines more efficiently,” says Mauro Gandolfo, CEO and co-founder of 3Brain AG. “Basically, we take traditional plastic multiwell plates and we turn them into intelligent devices with multi-core processing power, which can be programmed according to research needs. Integrated intelligence is a remarkable distinction from other instruments in the preclinical space. Importantly, despite the large amounts of data CorePlate devices can process, the user can still easily generate results thanks to the AI-driven interpretation of data. With the CorePlate technology, pharmaceutical companies can save time and money by better filtering and prioritizing drug candidates. Our ultimate goal is to provide our users with tools that help them more readily identify new cures for diseases.”
Insight into precision medicine for genetically diverse populations
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Biomarkers for improved management of prostate cancer
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