Beginning next month, ChanTest Corporation will offer the highest throughput electrophysiology platform on the market validated for both voltage-gated (VGIC) and rapidly desensitizing ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs). LGICs typically are not well suited for automated platform assays but by using the first IonWorks Barracuda System ever sold by Molecular Devices, ChanTest adds even greater capacity to its state of the art screening operation. A unique, flow-through well design and rapid solution exchange rate allows for accurate automated LGIC screening.
The new system can generate more than 1,100 data points per hour and record from 384 wells simultaneously. As many as eight compounds also can be added during data collection. This can shorten experiment time-to-completion and help reduce the cost per data point. The flexible software also makes this system well suited for both assay development and screening applications.
“We continue to validate our assays on the IonWorks Barracuda system and are pleased with the capabilities this new system is bringing to our operation. The flow-through PatchPlate well, designed for rapid solution exchange, and the electrode plate array that allows compound addition during data acquisition are just two of the features that create efficiencies of scale for high-throughput assays,” said Dr. Arthur Brown, CSO and founder of ChanTest.
“ChanTest has always been dedicated to helping accelerate drug discovery efforts. We believe our customers have been waiting for this new automated capability, especially for LGIC drug targets, and we’re pleased to bring this new platform on-line to meet the unique requirements of our drug discovery clients,” said Thomas Oakley, president and CEO of ChanTest.