The Laboratory Robotics Interest Group
Mid Atlantic Chapter
September 2002 Meeting
Microfluidics and Assay Miniaturization
Date: Thursday,
September 5, 2002
Place: Bridgewater Marriott Hotel, 700 Commons Way, Bridgewater, NJ
08807
Phone: 1-908-927-9300, Fax: 1-908-927-0033
Itinerary: Exhibition & Social Period -
4:00 to 6:30 PM
Meeting & Presentations - 6:30 to
9:00 PM
Pre-Registration: REQUESTED, not required. Pre-registering will
allow us to more accurately gauge seating requirements and refreshment
needs. Pre-register
on the web at
https://www.lab-robotics.org/member/meetings.asp?rid=1. There will be
drawings from the pre-registrants for our beautiful LRIG rosewood pens and any vendor
(hint, hint) supplied prizes.
Door Prizes:
Rosewood Pens (LRIG)
Agenda:
Recent advancements in this exciting field will be discussed in presentations
from 6:30 to 9:00 PM. Exhibitors will display their latest instruments
from 4:00 to 6:30 PM.
Food and refreshments will be available FREE OF CHARGE
during the Exhibition and Social Period.
There is always a Job posting board at the social. Please encourage your recruiters to
give you material to post and distribute. Openings may also be posted at
https://www.lab-robotics.org/forum/default.asp?CAT_ID=2.
There is no fee to attend the meeting.
Presentation: "Thermogenic
Imaging- Novel in vitro and in vivo Assay Platforms for Measuring Metabolic
Changes Associated with Drug Therapies"
Mark A. Paulik, Departments of Metabolic Diseases and Technology Development,
GlaxoSmithKline, RTP, NC
Thermogenic Imaging (TI) is a technology based on the novel use of infrared
thermal imaging that provides a tool for understanding cellular function in
vitro, ex vivo and in vivo. The technology offers a robust, non-invasive
screening method for a number of biological processes in a variety of disease
areas. TI provides real-time, quantitative information monitoring biological
function including: Metabolic changes, inflammatory responses, toxic responses
and other physiological processes in cells, tissue explants and animals. For in
vitro analysis, a fully automated system is being developed to measure real-time
thermogenic activity of cells in a 96-well format. Since the technology makes a
non-destructive measurement in a homogeneous format, the plates with in vitro
and/or ex vivo material can be subjected to follow-up endpoint assays resulting
in a powerful battery of measurements. For in vivo analysis, a system has been
developed that measures tissue and organ thermogenesis in rodents and other
small animals. These assays provide both dose-dependent and time-resolved data
sets in animals that allow for the analysis of acute function (e.g. seconds,
minutes) and enable optimal sampling for biochemical analysis or isolation of
genetic markers. Taken together, the data indicate TI can be used to measure
non-invasively both catabolic and anabolic processes in vitro, ex vivo and in
vivo as an alternative or complement to more laborious, invasive and expensive
methods. Current validation and applications of the technology to various in
vitro, ex vivo and in vivo biological systems will be presented.
Presentation: "IonWorksTMHT - A New
High-Throughput Electrophysiology Measurement Platform"
Jennings Worley, Amphora
In order to eliminate the throughput restrictions of classical patch clamp
electrophysiology, Essen Instruments has developed a plate-based ion channel
measurement platform. The system is capable of measuring whole-cell
electrophysiological recordings in a manner which allows for thousands
individual cells to be tested in an 8-hour day. Data demonstrating typical
throughput, measurement fidelity and comparative pharmacology will be presented
for Type III Na channels, the voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.5 and hERG.
The commercialized instrument is called IonWorksTM HT and will be sold and
supported by Molecular Devices Corporation.
Presentation: "How will microfluidics using
integral pumps and valves radically change your science?"
Rodney Turner, Fluidigm Corporation
Fluidigm Corporation has mastered fluidics at the micro-scale through
miniature valves, pumps, and channels that act within a chip as fluidic
circuitry. We fabricate this micro circuitry using a proprietary process known
as Multi-layer Soft Lithographyī£he MSL?process. This elegant process enables a
single chip to serve many functions, such as sample preparation, the
manipulation of live cells, the perfusion of reagents, and analyte detection.
This versatility gives Fluidigm an unparalleled advantage in transforming
microfluidics into integrated systems for post-genome applications.
Learn how Fluidigm is developing MSL?chips for applications in genomics,
protein assays, cell-based assays, and protein crystallization. Gain insight
into why MSL?microfluidics is ideal for high level microfluidic integration and
parallelization.
Presentation: "The Living Chip?quot;
Tanya Kanigan, Director of Chip Technology, BioTrove
BioTrove has developed a versatile nanofluidic platform, termed the Living
Chip? for performing very large numbers of biochemical, chemical and cell-based
storage and screening operations in a massively parallel manner. This technology
is based upon a high density, spatially-addressable array of nanovolume chemical
reaction vessels. We have built modular bench-top instrumentation and robotics
to enable individuals or small groups of scientists to perform high throughput
screening in these nanoplates. Using these prototype modules we have
demonstrated basic operations necessary for performing screens in chips with up
to 25,000 through-holes. Most of these operations, including loading, mixing and
washing are also applicable to chemical library synthesis and materials
discovery. In particular rapid and precise dispensing of nanoliter reagents into
each reaction container of an array allows for combinatorial synthesis of a
unique chemical in each container. Thus we believe that large compound libraries
of known molecular sequences could be quickly generated and screened using this
technology.
Exhibitors
Apogent Discoveries
BD BioSciences
Beckman
Biotrove
Brandel
Brooks - PRI Automation
Caliper
CyBio
Gilson
Gyros
Molecular Devices
Nunc
PerkinElmer
Sias
Spike International
Tecan
Tomtec
TTP LabAutomation
Velocity11
Zymark
DON'T FORGET TO PRE-REGISTER TO INSURE THAT THERE IS ENOUGH FOOD AND SEATS.
https://www.lab-robotics.org/member/meetings.asp?rid=1
Directions:
<http://www.marriotthotels.com/dpp/PropertyPage.asp?MarshaCode=SOSBW>
Visit The Laboratory Robotics
Interest Group homepage at https://www.lab-robotics.org
