Welcome to SBS 2011 - SLAS

Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center | March 27–31, 2011 | Orlando, Florida, USA
New Ion Channel Screening Technologies Enabling Development of High Quality
and High-Throughput Assays in a Plate-Based Screening Group
Juha Kammonen, Pfizer Global Research & Development
Increasing confidence in ion channel targets based on human genetics is causing the number of in vitro assays required to
support medicinal chemistry to go up. At the same time, the need for high-content, more physiologically relevant data from
primary or pluripotent cells, rather than throughput alone, has increased the demand for flexibility. Traditional plate-based
screening methods have relied on indirect measurements of ion conductance, as automated electrophysiology technologies
have not been able to provide the necessary throughput for all ion channel targets. While offering higher throughput, these
methods have always required secondary assays for hit confirmation and to remove artifacts specific to the technology
used. Also, the need for high cell numbers has meant plate-based assays are not amenable to use of primary cells. We
have adopted two new technologies that enable us to satisfy both requirements of throughput and high data quality, while
simultaneously streamlining the process of ion channel screening by removing a step from the screening cascade. One
allows us to rapidly characterize new cell lines, primary cells and tool compounds, using a gold standard manual patch
quality instrument with improved usability and throughput compared to traditional manual patch electrophysiology. A new
microfluidics based, continuous read and perfusion bench top instrument with plate reader simplicity enables whole-cell
electrophysiology assays to be run for any ion channel target at a higher throughput than before, removing the bottleneck
of the traditionally slow process of ion channel screening. With the added benefits of the ease of transferring an assay
from development to screening in one step, as well as comparing and confirming compound activity very quickly between
recombinant cell lines and primary cells within one group, these technologies introduce a new ion channel screening
paradigm into a traditionally plate-based screening group.
Creating a Holistic Screening Strategy for Label-Free Technology
in a Plate Based Screening Group
Rachel Russell, Pfizer Global Research & Development
An outline of the hurdles in identifying a label free screening strategy for a plate based screening team. Utilization of examples
of where label free technology in the reagent provision space through to assay development and screening has enabled the
use of primary, rather than recombinantly expressing cells, leading to a forward thinking approach as to how primary screening
is/should evolve.
SLAS.org/events/sbs11 | 47