The Laboratory Robotics Interest Group
Mid Atlantic Chapter
November 2002 Meeting
Assay Technology
Date: Wednesday, November
20, 2002
Place: Somerset Marriott Hotel, 110
Davidson Ave. Somerset, NJ 08873
Phone: 732-560-0500, Fax: 732-560-3669
Itinerary:
Social Period - 5:00 to 6:00 PM
Meeting & Presentations - 6:00 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 LRIG
laser pointers, LRIG Photon Keyring Lights and any vendor
(hint, hint) supplied prizes.
Door Prizes:
Laser Pointers (LRIG)
Photon Keyring Lights (LRIG)
Two Fleece-lined Nylon Jackets (Millipore)
Agenda:
Recent advancements in assay technologies will be discussed in presentations
from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.
The usual delicious food and refreshments will be available FREE OF CHARGE
during the Social Period from 5:00 to 6:00 PM..
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: Evaluation of
Technologies for Potassium Channel Targets Compound Screening
Dr. Weimin Tang, Principal Scientist, Johnson and Johnson/Pharmaceutical
Research Institute
We have seen a surge of research in development of fast and reliable HTS
methods for ion channel targets. This is driven by the fact that hundreds of ion
channel genes from the human genome project and their functional association
with human diseases. Some of the channels have been proved to be important in
the drug discovery process such as HERG and various calcium channels.
Traditional potassium channel functional study has relied on Patch-Clamp
electrophysiology and Rb86 efflux assay. However, those methods were not easily
deployed for drug screening because of the concern for cost and speed.
Pharmaceutical companies have relied on dye based ion channel readers such as
FLIPR and VIPR for many years and the results are controversial. This talk will
focus on the development of non-radioactive Rb+ efflux assay using ICR8000, a
system designed for medium throughput functional HERG channel screening. The
development of HTS ICR12000 will also be discussed.
Presentation: Transfluor?
Technology: Universal, High-Throughput Imaging Assay for G Protein-Coupled
Receptors
Christine Hudson, Senior Scientist, Norak Biosciences, Inc
Norak Biosciences, Inc. is using its proprietary Transfluor?
technology as a universal, cell-based, imaging assay for known and orphan GPCRs.
The Transfluor?
technology is based on a physiological process common to nearly all GPCRs--receptor
desensitization. Specifically, the assay utilizes the redistribution of
fluorescently-labeled arrestins from the cytoplasm to receptors at the plasma
membrane to monitor the activation (or inactivation) of GPCRs. Transfluor?
is quantitated on multiple automated image analysis systems, achieving high
signal to background ratios (5:1 to 25:1) and screening rates of 50,000
compounds per day. The assay discriminates between agonists, partial agonists,
and antagonists while providing valuable pharmacological information on efficacy
and potency. In contrast to present methods of screening GPCRs, the power of the
Transfluor?
assay is in its simplicity, sensitivity, and applicability to all GPCRs without
requiring prior knowledge of natural ligands or how a given receptor is coupled
to downstream signaling pathways.
Presentation: A Calcium Flux Assay for Drug
Screening In The LabChip System
Abbie L. Esterman, Ph.D., Senior Applications Scientist, Caliper Technologies
A high throughput calcium flux assay was developed for the LabChip?
microfluidic system. The system accesses samples from a microplate, mixes the
samples with cells flowing through a microchannel and reads out cellular
responses using fluorescence detection. Calcium responses resulting from
G-protein coupled receptor activation were measured. The ability to conduct
screens for GPCR agonists and antagonists was demonstrated by screening for
agonists and antagonists of the m1-muscarinic receptor mediated calcium response
in CHO cells. The LabChip?system uses as few as 50-100 cells per sample and
less than 10 nl of sample and 10 nl of agonist per measurement. Because of the
low cellular and reagent consumption, and high data quality obtained with the
microfluidic device, the LabChip?system should be widely applicable in high
throughput screening.
Presentation: Count the Ways:
Automated Biochemical Counter-Screening for Kinase Drug Discovery
Gordon Alton, Department of Biochemistry, Pfizer Global R and D, La Jolla
Labs
One of the most critical issues for protein kinase drug discovery is
selectivity. Since most kinase inhibitors are targeted to the ATP-binding site
and there are more than 500 kinases in the Human genome off-target inhibition is
a significant problem. As the potency of lead compounds increase through
iterative cycles of medicinal chemistry and structure based drug design it is
important to identify off-target inhibition. To facilitate counter-screening by
individual project biochemists routine robust automation of dose response curve
kinase assays are required. In contrast to an HTS assay these automated assays
are designed to provide high precision data for a small number of compounds for
multiple kinases. This presentation will outline some of the robotic assay
development solutions that have been implemented in the Biochemistry Group at
Pfizer La Jolla.
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
Information & Directions to Hotel:
http://www.marriotthotels.com/SOSNJ/
or
http://www.njacs.org/d_sommarr.html
Visit The Laboratory Robotics
Interest Group homepage at https://www.lab-robotics.org
