omation mbers - Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening

WP052
Jas Sanghera
TTP LabTech
Melbourn Science Park, Cambridge Road
Royston SG8 6EE United Kingdom
jas.sanghera@ttplabtech.com
217
Co-Author(s)
David Pole
Wayne Bowen
A Homogenous Assay for Inhibition of Basal Proliferation in 96- and 384-Well Formats Using
the Acumen Explorer
Estimating for a given cell population, both proliferation and its rate is critical to experiments in a wide variety of
disciplines for example, immunology, cardiovascular disease and cancer. For this reason, over the years a number
of assays have been developed to measure these processes and the gold standard assay has remained the
uptake of 3H Thymidine. Examples of other assays developed to obviate the use of 3H label are MTT Formazan
(colorimetric), BrdU ELISA (fluorescence) and Acid Phosphatase (colorimetric). However, all these assays involve
a number of steps. Using the Acumen Explorer laser scanning fluorescence microplate cytometer a simple
homogenous quantitative assay can be performed in both 96- and 384-well plate formats. Experiments described
here show how the Acumen Explorer can be used to follow the basal proliferation of both adherent and suspension
cell lines and the effect of inhibitors Pacilitaxel and Anisomycin quantified.
WP054
Eric Schmidt
Ahura Corporation
46 Jonspin Road
Wilmington, Massachusetts 01887
eschmidt@ahuracorp.com
Innovations in Photonics for Biotech Applications
Co-Author(s)
Daryoosh Vakhshoori
Biotech researchers have had to adapt their techniques around the tools which have been available, often with
high expense and sub-optimal results. Now, thanks to billions of dollars invested in telecommunications, new
classes of instruments based on novel technologies are being directed at the problems confronting the biotech
community. Semiconductor lightsources and MEMs offer high reliability, long life, and small packages with very
high efficiency, making them an ideal replacement for traditional lasers and optics. With all these advantages,
scientists and engineers are thinking “outside the box” combining cross disciplinary know-how to create new
classes of instruments with advanced capabilities including: multiple wavelengths, modulation, scanning, and most
of all portability. Breakthrough innovations come when incremental innovations converge on a new market. In the
case of photonics, innovations underwritten by billions of dollars of telecom investment are bearing fruit in the
medical, scientific and industrial field. Teams of physicists and engineers are working to develop low-cost mobile
optical platforms which should revolutionize drug discovery by putting “Main Frame” power onto the researchers’
desk top.These next generation systems will incorporate multiple semiconductor lightsources, the optics to
manipulate the photons, the apparatus to expose the samples and the detectors to measure the results in “Lap
Top” size instruments. The vision is to utilize the breakthroughs in semiconductor lasers and MEMs to provide
maintenance free, reliable, high efficiency packages which offer more functionality than what is presently available.
POSTER ABSTRACTS