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P2075
The CellKey™384 System Enables High-Throughput Screening with a Label-free Cell-Based Assay Platform.
Presenter Debra Gallant, MDS AnalyticalTechnologies, USA
Additional Authors: John Proctor, Ryan McGuinness, Roger Tang, Trisha Tutana, Yen-Wen Chen, Julia Michelotti, Anna Aherne
In recent years, the incorporation of cell-based assays in the early high-throughput phases of drug discovery has undergone a dramatic increase. This is largely driven by the fact that such assays yield data that more accurately model the complex biological states of target receptors than the more traditional biochemical assays.  As an added benefit, these assays provide economy, convenience and throughput unattainable in in vivo studies. As part of this growing trend, label free cell based assays are being adopted at growing rates and offer many advantages to cellular screening including a simplified assay development workflow and access to more biorelevant data early in the drug discovery lifecycle.  Here we successfully demonstrate the feasibility of scaling a label free impedance assay to high-throughput screening.  Many aspects of assay design, set up and execution are considered, including workflow and measurement duration, while leveraging the inherent ease of use of a label-free technology.  In these studies we have aligned all of the system components necessary to show the manner in which the CellKey™384 System effectively operates in an HTS format.  We report assay performance statistics including signal-to-background and Z’ for multiple plates over multiple days. The CellKey™384 brings the simplified workflow of a label free assay, the biorelevance of endogenous receptor analysis and the rich information of integrated cellular responses to high-throughput screening. The result is the generation of richer information at the earliest steps of the screening process, ultimately leading to greater success in identifying quality lead compounds.