232 results about "High Throughput Assay" patented technology

A system has been constructed that recapitulate the features of a capillary bed through normal human tissue. The system facilitates perfusion of three-dimensional (3D) cell monocultures and heterotypic cell co-cultures at the length scale of the capillary bed. A major feature is that the system can be utilized within a “multiwell plate” format amenable to high-throughput assays compatible with the type of robotics commonly used in pharmaceutical development. The system provides a means to conduct assays for toxicology and metabolism and as a model for human diseases such as hepatic diseases, including hepatitis, exposure-related pathologies, and cancer. Cancer applications include primary liver cancer as well as metastases. The system can also be used as a means of testing gene therapy approaches for treating disease and inborn genetic defects.

The invention provides reagents, kits and methods for detecting and/or quantifying proteins in complex mixtures, such as a cell lysate. The methods can be used in high throughput assays to profile cellular proteomes. In one aspect, the invention provides a peptide internal standard labeled with a stable isotope and corresponding in amino acid sequence to the amino acid sequence of a subsequence of a target polypeptide. In another aspect, the peptide internal standard is labeled at a modified amino acid residue and is used to determine the presence of, and/or quantitate the amount of a particular modified form of a protein.

The present invention provides a microarray chip for use in the analysis of various sample types. The microarray chips disclosed herein generally comprise a substrate covered with a coating material comprising a photoresist material, wherein the coating material is patterned to comprise a plurality of microstructures such as microwells and/or microcolumns. Methods for preparing and utilizing the microarray chips of the invention are further provided. The microarray chips of the instant invention find particular use in high-throughput assays.

The present invention provides novel biochips, biochip-based devices, and device configurations that can be used for ion transport measurement. The chips, devices, and designs of the present invention are particularly suited to high-throughput assays such as compound screening assays using patch clamping techniques. The invention includes high-density biochips made by novel methods and methods of making high density biochips, and also provides novel upper chamber configurations and fluidics designs for upper chambers of ion transport measurement devices that can be used in high throughput patch clamp assays. The present invention also includes methods of using ion transport measuring chips and devices of the present invention.

An apparatus and method for measuring Raman-type spectra using optical dispersion to convert an optical spectrum into a waveform which can be detected directly in the time domain without the use of a conventional spectrometer. In the example of stimulated Raman spectroscopy, the apparatus and method exposes a sample to a chirped, pulsed probe beam and a Raman pump beam and the resulting Raman spectra is detected by an optical detector in the time domain, and analyzed. Alternatively, the Raman spectra from the probe and pump beams is chirped with a dispersive element prior to detection and analysis. Each probe pulse provides a snapshot of the Raman spectrum that is sampled in time so that neither repetitive waveforms nor static samples are required. Therefore, high speed acquisitions and high throughput assays can be conducted. To facilitate detection, these spectral signals can also be amplified using distributed Raman amplification directly in the dispersive element.

Microtiter-like plates containing virtual wells formed by an arrangement of relatively hydrophilic domains within relatively hydrophobic fields are provided. Assay mixtures are confined to the hydrophilic domains of the virtual wells by the edges of the hydrophobic fields. The use of virtual wells allows one to perform homogeneous and capture and wash high throughput screening assays with assay mixtures having volumes on the order of about 100 nl to 10 mu. Virtual wells also provide a means of easily moving fluids, which is particularly useful for simultaneous additions needed for kinetic studies and flash detection and washing. Methods for controlling evaporation during the dispensing of reagents as well as during incubation of high throughput screening utilizing microtiter-like plates containing virtual wells are also provided. The present invention also provides an inexpensive, disposable device for transferring small volumes of an entire array of compounds from a first microtiter-like plate to a second microtiter-like plate, preserving the spatial arrangement of the compounds. Methods of manufacturing and using the device are also provided.

The present invention is related to a method for introducing biomolecules, such as nucleic acids, into cells by culturing cells on a solid surface which is coated with a transfection reagents and biomolecules.

The invention of novel protein microarrays and protein microarray-based techniques to determine the presence and amounts of proteins of interest are described. These microarrays and methods of use can be used for the simultaneous detection of a multiplicity of antigens or antibodies in a high throughput assay based upon the differential affinity of molecules for one another. The microarrays can be formed by immobilizing capture proteins in an array on a membrane. Analytes of interest can be bound by the capture proteins and can be detected either by the position to which they are immobilized or by the identity of detecting proteins or agents which bind to the analytes of interest. The interactions that can be detected using the present invention can also be used to characterize proteins of unknown identity or character.

The invention provides systems, software, methods and kits for detecting and/or quantifying phosphorylatable polypeptides and/or acetylated polypeptides in complex mixtures, such as a lysate of a cell or cellular compartment (e.g., such as an organelle). The methods can be used in high throughput assays to profile phosphoproteomes and to correlate sites and amounts of phosphorylation with particular cell states.

An off-column sample injection scheme for introducing samples into micro-reaction channels in microfabricated devices. In one aspect of the present invention, off-column sample injection is effected by introducing sample from a sample reservoir provided on the substrate of the microfabricated device into a reaction channel via a constricted channel or opening interface, e.g., a narrow connection-channel and/or a pinhole. In another embodiment of the present invention, off-column sample injection is effected by introducing sample from a sample reservoir that is provided outside the substrate of the microfabricated device. A through-hole is provided in the substrate to facilitate sample introduction into the reaction channel. In a further aspect of the present invention, the free-end of a capillary tube connected to the sample-channel is moved alternatively to a sample and an auxiliary solution to bring multiple samples in series to the vicinity of a reaction channel for convenient sample introduction and high-throughput assays.

The present invention provides high throughput assays for identifying compounds that modulate a contractile function, as well as devices suitable for these assays.

A microfabricated particle focusing device comprises an acoustic portion to preconcentrate particles over large spatial dimensions into particle streams and a dielectrophoretic portion for finer particle focusing into single-file columns. The device can be used for high throughput assays for which it is necessary to isolate and investigate small bundles of particles and single particles.

Disclosed are compositions and methods for their use, such as in identifying G-protein-coupled receptors, ligands and compounds that modulate the activities of G-protein-coupled receptors. The compositions and methods employ cyclic nucleotide-gated channels and fluorescence dyes in detecting changes of intracellular cAMP levels in response to the stimulation of G-protein-coupled receptors. Activation of the G-protein-coupled receptors can be detected in a variety of assays, including cell-based imaging assays with fluorescence microscopes and high throughput assays with multi-well plates and fluorescence plate readers.

The present invention relates to methods, systems, and kits for intoxicating cells, neuronal and non-neuronal cells, with a toxin or fragment thereof. This is done by subjecting toxin substrate and a lipid or polymeric carrier (e.g., DNA uptake facilitating agent) to one or more cells for use in cell based assays. In an aspect, the methods of the present invention allow for high throughput assays and, as such, for the evaluation of drug candidates.

cAMP reporters useful for obtaining measurements of cAMP levels with high spatial and temporal resolution and in high throughput assays.

In one aspect, the present invention relates to a mammalian cell-based high-throughput assay for the profiling and screening of human epithelial sodium channel (hENaC) cloned from a human kidney c-DNA library and is also expressed in other tissues including human taste tissue. The present invention further relates to amphibian oocyte-based medium-throughput electrophysiological assays for identifying human ENaC modulators, preferably ENaC enhancers. Compounds that modulate ENaC function in a cell-based ENaC assay are expected to affect salty taste in humans. The assays described herein have advantages over existing cellular expression systems. In the case of mammalian cells, such assays can be run in standard 96 or 384 well culture plates in high-throughput mode with enhanced assay results being achieved by the use of a compound that inhibits ENaC function, preferably an amiloride derivative such as Phenamil. In the case of the inventive oocyte electrophysiological assays (two-electrode voltage-clamp technique), these assays facilitate the identification of compounds which specifically modulate human ENaC. The assays of the invention provide a robust screen useful to detect compounds that facilitate (enhance) or inhibit hENaC function. Compounds that enhance or block human ENaC channel activity should thereby modulate salty taste in humans.

A device for characterizing the biological properties of cells can include a plurality of dual-compartment assay chambers wherein the compartments of each chamber are separated by a cell layer across which ions can flow. The biological properties of the cell layer in the presence or absence of experimental compounds can be determined by measuring an electrical gradient across the layer. A individual dual-compartment chamber of this type may be referred to as an “Ussing chamber.”

The invention provides a rapid, quantitative assay to directly assess the impact of a diverse range of sugars upon the sugar-mediated uptake of corresponding sugar-conjugates into various cell types.

Disclosed is a micro-fluidic chip for high-throughput screening and high-throughput assay, in which its structure is improved, thereby enhancing the efficiency of high-throughput screening and high-throughput assay. The micro-fluidic chip includes a well for isolating a specimen. The well can be arranged in a one- or two-dimension. A specimen-isolating means is disposed above the well and is movable upwards and downwards. An opening and closing means for moving the specimen-isolating means upwards and downwards is disposed above the specimen-isolating means. An inlet for injection the specimen and an outlet for discharging an excess of the injected specimen are provided. A reagent-injecting passage for injecting a reagent and a reagent-discharging passage for discharging the reagent are also provided.