Basel, Switzerland, Oct. 14-16, 2008
MipTec is the premier European conference and exhibition encompassing innovative approaches to high-quality science and technology for efficient drug discovery. This year, the 11th Annual MipTec Conference was hosted in beautiful Basel, Switzerland. For those unable to attend the convention this year or who missed the Beckman Coulter Lunch Symposium on Oct. 15, 2008, here are the presentation abstracts, highlighting the latest developments by our application laboratories.
siRNA Library Screening in Primary Cells Using 96-Well Nucleofection™
Ludger Altrogge, Devin Leake and Herbert Müller-Hartmann
Research & Development, amaxa AG–part of the Lonza Group, Cologne, Germany
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dharmacon Products, Lafayette, CO, USA
Cell Culture Automation in Biopharma–Cell Line Optimization and Monoclonal Antibody Production
Ewan Grant, Beckman Coulter Europe, Nyon, Switzerland
Automated Flow Cytometry–From Stacker Systems to Integrated Assay Workstations
Andreas Hahn, Beckman Coulter Europe, Nyon, Switzerland
Miniaturization of Cell-Based Assays–Detection Technologies and sub-µl Liquid Handling
Rainer Mühlbacher, Beckman Coulter Austria, Salzburg, Austria
Christoph Krüll, Beckman Coulter Europe, Nyon, Switzerland
Keywords:
Cell line optimization, monoclonal antibodies, biopharma, process management, modular reader technology, sub-µl liquid handling, screening
Abstract:
Pharmaceutical companies are currently investing in biotechnology to fill the pipeline for new drugs with biopharmaceuticals. Biotechnology uses biological systems to create proteins or nucleic acids that can be used as therapeutics. Biopharmaceutical drugs have been developed for treatment of diseases such as cancer, anemia and rheumatoid arthritis.
Beckman Coulter has supplied automation systems into the biopharma industry for several years; however, research, production and quality control of biopharmaceuticals pose new challenges on process automation. Automation of cell culture applications is demanding, especially for data tracking, as these processes may take weeks or months to complete. We will discuss automation examples of cell line optimization and production of monoclonal antibodies.
Lonza’s NucleofectorTM Technology is an established method for effective transfection of numerous difficult-to-transfect cell types, including primary cells, with nucleic acids and other substrates. We demonstrate siRNA-based high-throughput target identification and validation in cell types highly relevant for medical research using the Nucleofector 96-Well Shuttle System.
Flow cytometry is fundamental in the characterization of cellular systems. As one of the largest suppliers in flow cytometry products, Beckman Coulter combines its automation and cytometry systems to provide full walk-away automation for cellular analysis. Examples were presented, ranging from simple stacker systems to fully integrated assay workstations.
Cellular systems have also become more important in high-throughput screening, providing data of better quality than many biochemical assays. Partnering with drug-discovery companies, Beckman Coulter invests in high-end detection technology and state-of-the-art liquid handling. We will present new developments for our ParadigmTM high-end multimode reader and the use of the BioRAPTRTM sub-µl dispenser for high-density cell-based screening. |
