A new collaboration between SPT Labtech and BellBrook Labs has produced a miniaturised, high-throughput screening platform aimed at accelerating the identification of VPS4B ATPase inhibitors in oncology drug discovery.

Vacuolar protein sorting associated protein 4B (VPS4B) has gained attention as a therapeutic target in oncology owing to its overexpression in specific tumour types and its synthetic-lethal relationship with its paralog, VPS4A. Despite this clinical relevance, scalable and robust screening approaches for identifying effective inhibitors have remained elusive – a bottleneck the new platform seeks to address.

Platform components and technical capability

The screening platform integrates BellBrook Labs’ Transcreener® ADP2 fluorescence polarisation assay with SPT Labtech’s dragonfly® discovery system. The Transcreener assay provides direct, homogeneous detection of ADP at high sensitivity, while the dragonfly discovery system delivers automated, precise reagent dispensing at scale. The combined platform is compatible with 384- and 1536-well formats, improving data quality compared with manual approaches whilst significantly reducing reagent consumption and associated costs.

Follow-up testing of identified hits can be conducted using SPT Labtech’s mosquito® liquid handling platform, enabling rapid and robust secondary screening workflows.

SPT Labtech’s dragonfly discovery system

Inhibitor identification and validation

Using this platform, researchers successfully identified 13 novel VPS4B inhibitors. Justin Brink, President of BellBrook Labs, noted the significance of the achievement: “Through a combination of our Transcreener technology with the precision of the dragonfly discovery platform, we have significantly lowered the barriers to VPS4B screening, allowing researchers to dramatically reduce reagent consumption while maintaining the high Z’ values and data sensitivity required for reliable hit identification. It’s a game-changer for any biotech or pharma team targeting these complex ATPases.”

Joby Jenkins, Chief Technology Officer at SPT Labtech, highlighted the broader context: “Building on 25 years of positive displacement technology, we are supporting our customers to achieve faster, more efficient liquid handling, laying the foundation for the next generation of laboratory automation. By miniaturising the VPS4B assay without compromising data quality, we are providing pharma and biotech companies with a truly scalable path toward new cancer therapeutics.”

For more information, visit: https://www.sptlabtech.com
Digital issue: Please click here for more information

Justin Brink, President,
BellBrook Labs

Joby Jenkins, Chief Technology
Officer, SPT Labtech

BellBrook Labs’ Transcreener ADP assay kit