FlexStation® 3 Multi-Mode Microplate Reader

Biology research has been greatly simplified by the availability of standardized assay kits, instruments, and assay protocols from commercial manufacturers. However, assay optimization remains an essential and often time-consuming step to ensure the desired sensitivity and specificity to the target of interest. Molecular Devices presents its range of easy-to-use, robust assay kits for protein, DNA, and cell-based assays. Discover how these assay kits are optimized for the highest data quality on Molecular Devices instruments, including compatible software to streamline your workflow.

Gq protein-coupled receptor activation is commonly monitored in live cells in real time using calcium-sensitive dyes on a fluorescence plate reader. Automated liquid handling within the plate reader is generally required to deliver agonist compounds to the cells in the microplate while the detection system takes real-time readings of compound-induced changes in fluorescence intensity values. Analysis of the resulting kinetic readings yields information about the compound response profiles, including EC50 and IC50 values for agonists and antagonists.

FLIPR® Calcium Assay Kits from Molecular Devices employ sensitive calcium indicators and proprietary masking dyes to enable researchers to conduct highly sensitive fluorescent screens of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels, and other calcium sensitive targets. By using a novel dye formulation to further enhance the calcium flux assay signal window, assay robustness is increased, while providing greater assay protocol flexibility. As a result, the FLIPR Calcium 6 and Calcium 6-QF Calcium Kit dyes become more suitable for measuring calcium flux in 384-well plates with the medium throughput FlexStation® 3 MultiMode Microplate Reader using the 16 channel pipettor. Results are similar to those obtained on the FLIPR® Tetra System in high throughput mode.

Neurons are electrically excitable cells in the central and peripheral nervous system that process and transmit information through electrical and chemical signals. These signals occur via synapses that allow neurons connecting to each other to form neuronal networks.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent one of the most important therapeutic targets in drug discovery research. GPCRs are membrane-localized proteins that play an important role in cell signaling. When a receptor is activated by a ligand, the conformation of the receptor is modified, activating G-proteins inside the cell. An active G-protein has the potential to induce various cascades of intracellular messengers, including calcium.

Drug-induced inhibition of the human ether-à-go-go-related gene (hERG) ion channel has been related to the susceptibility of patients to potentially fatal ventricular tachyarrhythmia, torsade de pointes. In recent years, a number of FDA-approved drugs were withdrawn from the market due to their off-target effect on hERG. As a result, there has been an increasing need for identifying compounds that block the hERG channel at earlier stages in the drug discovery process. Here we present the utility of a new potassium assay kit on the FlexStation® 3 Multi-Mode Microplate Reader to investigate hERG compound activity.

Platelets are small, anucleate blood cells that mediate haemostasis by aggregating at sites of blood vessel injury to form a thrombus (or clot) that limits blood loss. When platelets respond to vessel damage inappropriately this can lead to thrombotic disease such as heart attacks and ischaemic stroke. Three main steps underlie thrombus formation: stage one is adhesion (platelets attach to exposed matrix proteins in the damaged vascular endothelium), stage two is activation (receptor mediated events such as shape change and secretion of chemical messengers), and stage three is aggregation (platelet-to-platelet adhesion).

Reporter gene assays are important tools for studying gene expression associated with the activation of cellular pathways. Cells are transfected with a plasmid containing the reporter gene and a sequence of interest, typically a promoter or other transcriptional control element. When the promoter is activated, the reporter gene is expressed and its levels can be measured.

The FlexStation® 3 Multi-Mode Microplate Reader integrates sensitive optics, fluid transfer and temperature control making it ideal for kinetic, cell-based fluorometric assays, such as the measurement of intracellular calcium, membrane potential and intracellular pH.

IMAP® Technology from Molecular Devices enables rapid, homogeneous, and non-radioactive assay of kinases, phosphatases, and phosphodiesterases and is suited for both assay development and high-throughput screening. IMAP assays are based on binding of phosphate to immobilized metal coordination complexes on nanoparticles.