Bio Screening Industry News

The field of nanomedicine offers ever more breathless promises of new diagnoses and cures as well as ways of improving human performance. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) expects nanotechnology to account for around half of all pharmaceutical industry sales by 2010. What is less hyped is that the same impact is likely to hit the animal health market - either as nanotechnologies show their worth in human medicine or as a proving ground for more controversial approaches to nanomedicine, such as using DNA nanocapsules.

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Cellumen, Inc., the systems cell biology company, and RheoGene Inc. announced today that they have entered into a nonexclusive commercial licensing agreement under which Cellumen will use RheoGene’s RheoSwitch(R) inducible gene regulation technology and RheoPlex(TM) multigene regulation technology to develop systems cell biology screening products including discovery collaborations, advanced reagents for High Content Screening (HCS) and stable cell lines. Cellumen will offer these products to its pharmaceutical and biotechnology company customers.

The companies will also collaborate on the development and validation of mammalian cell lines to be used in Cellumen’s proprietary systems cell biology profiling assays. Cellumen will provide expertise in molecular cell biology, High Content Screening and development of advanced reagents for cell analysis. RheoGene will contribute expertise in RheoSwitch(R) and RheoPlex(TM) system optimization, gene expression and development of stable cell lines.

Cellumen is creating new classes of reagents that “measure and manipulate” cell constituents used in multiplexed assays to yield a systems cell biology profile for drug discovery. The combined technologies will enable customers to manipulate the expression levels of one or two regulated cellular components including biosensor reporter molecules, functional proteins and siRNAs for both coding and noncoding RNAs. HCS profiling assays will be run on Cellumen’s platforms. This emphasis on whole cell functions will allow better decisions to be made on what compounds to continue in the pipeline.

“We are pleased to have established a licensing agreement and collaboration with RheoGene,” stated D. Lansing Taylor, CEO of Cellumen. “The incorporation of the RheoGene technologies into our advanced reagents for systems cell biology profiling will enhance our ability to deliver our ‘measure and manipulate’ approach to our customers. This approach will significantly increase the functional information on the impact of compounds on specific targets and cell functions.”

“This opportunity to work with Cellumen is another excellent example of high value applications for our RheoSwitch(R) and RheoPlex(TM) technologies, that we will now extend into systems cell biology,” said Thomas Tillett, CEO of RheoGene. “We will also collaborate with Cellumen on several projects that integrate our respective expertise.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

About Cellumen

Cellumen is a systems cell biology company that is focused on defining the functions of genes, coding and non-coding RNAs, proteins and other cellular constituents that regulate and perform the myriad of functions that define normal life and are related to specific disease processes as potential biomarkers and/or targets for drug discovery and patient profiling. Cellumen uses multiple HCS platforms with a wide range of both commercially available and proprietary reagents to create multiplexed assays to define pathways, identify potential molecular biomarkers of disease, and perform screens that yield a systems cell biology profile. Cellumen can be found on the Internet at www.cellumen.com.

About RheoGene

RheoGene Inc. is the source for targeted, regulated products and technologies for the development of safe and effective therapeutics. RheoGene delivers customized inducible gene expression products for pharmaceutical discovery and development, human therapeutics and biotherapeutics production. RheoGene’s proprietary RheoSwitch(R) Therapeutic System (RTS) offers safe, regulated cell and gene therapies that deliver the right dose — to the right place — at the right time — to improve the lives of patients with serious medical conditions for which there are no effective treatments or cures today. RheoGene Inc. is a wholly owned affiliate of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with operations in Norristown, PA, and Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, visit www.rheogene.com.

Contacts: Cellumen D. Lansing Taylor, Ph.D. CEO 412-770-1357 RheoGene Inc. Lorraine H. Keller, Ph.D. VP Marketing 610-650-8734

SOURCE: RheoGene

Sunnyvale, CA, July 25, 2005–Labcyte Inc. announced today it has closed its Series C financing with all previous major investors and three new firms participating. The round was led by Cross Atlantic Partners and included Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management LLC and the Bay Area Equity Fund, a fund managed by JPMorgan, as new investors. Dr. Sandra Panem of Cross Atlantic Partners will join the company’s board of directors. Existing investors Abingworth Management, Alloy Ventures, Delphi Ventures and the Sprout Group also participated in the $21 million financing.

Labcyte will use these funds for expanding its rapidly growing, low-volume liquid handling business, which is based on a proprietary technology for using focused acoustics (ultrasound) to precisely transfer nanoliters of liquid. The company has successfully commercialized this technology in the Echo™ 550 compound reformatter. The Echo 550 transfers library compounds directly into assay plates and eliminates the need for tips, washing and intermediate dilutions. Six major pharmaceutical companies and one leading university have purchased the Echo 550 with three companies using multiple systems. Users report improved transfer results and savings equal to the price of the system in less than one year.

This investment will also be used to market the next Labcyte product, the Echo 380 auditor, and to continue to expand the commercial applications of the company’s technology in genomics and proteomics. The Echo 380 auditor is the first system that enables rapid determination of solution volume and water content in compound collections. The company is also developing an instrument for preparing tissue samples for quantitative imaging by MALDI mass spectrometry. This technique provides unique information about the spatial distribution of proteins in a tissue and has wide applications in toxicology, basic research and pathology. Additionally, Labcyte expects to deploy its acoustic technologies in genomics and proteomics by developing systems for small volume expression and mutation assays.

“We are very pleased to bring additional high quality investors into Labcyte and anticipate their assistance in the accelerating commercialization of our technology. I especially welcome Dr. Panem to the board of directors. Her broad experience in the both the business and science of biotechnology will be an important asset to Labcyte,” said Elaine J. Heron, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Labcyte Inc.

Labcyte Inc. is a privately held company that was formed by the merger of Picoliter Inc. and Labcyte, LLC in October, 2003. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and provides a line of compact liquid and plate handling systems, plastic laboratory supplies, as well as the Echo 550 compound reformatter. The Labcyte acoustic liquid handling technology has broad applications in the life science including dispensing equipment, assay systems, particle manufacturing, microarrays, and living cell transfer devices. Labcyte has 21 issued U.S. patents as well as additional international filings. For more information, visit the company’s website, www.labcyte.com.

ADME/Tox Web is a unique reference data and prediction service on the web that provides critical ADME/Tox information for both existing and new compounds on-line. Considered properties include pKa, pH-dependent solubility, passive absorption, active transport, Pgp efflux and inhibition, cumulative oral %F, AMES test, LD50 in mouse and rat (oral and iv), and six types of organ-specific effects. Each prediction is provided with compound-specifc probabilities as well as experimental data for similar compounds. This service is 100% automated, does not require any installations of your PC, and can be tried FOR FREE after simple registration. Pharma Algorithms.

SAN DIEGO, July 21 /PRNewswire/ — ChemDiv, Inc. (ChemDiv), a global
chemistry-driven contract research organization with headquarters in San
Diego, California, has announced the extension of its collaboration with Palm
Beach County-based Scripps Florida, the newly established division of the
Scripps Research Institute of La Jolla, California.
Under the terms of the agreement, Scripps Florida is granted access to the
diverse and focused screening libraries designed by ChemDiv. To support
further development, ChemDiv offers synthetic, medicinal chemistry as well as
its global logistics services for researchers at Scripps Florida. The
financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Alex Kiselyov, Ph.D., Vice President of Global Chemistry, ChemDiv, stated:
“We are pleased that Scripps Research has chosen to expand its relationship
with ChemDiv, to support Scripps Florida. We value our long-standing
association with Scripps Research, and consider it evidence of the high
quality standards we strive to provide our customers.”

About ChemDiv, Inc.
ChemDiv, Inc. (ChemDiv) is a global chemistry-driven contract research
organization focused on scientific innovation, and the delivery of products
and services that meet the drug discovery needs of its partners. ChemDiv
provides its partners access to Discovery outSource(TM) a full service drug
discovery capability encompassing; medicinal chemistry; pre-clinical
development; synthetic chemistry; diverse and focused screening libraries, as
well as global logistics. For additional information, please visit
http://www.chemdiv.com.

About The Scripps Research Institute
The Scripps Research Institute, headquartered in La Jolla, California, in
14 buildings on 100 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean, is one of the world’s
largest independent, non-profit biomedical research organizations. It stands
at the forefront of basic biomedical science that seeks to comprehend the most
fundamental processes of life. Scripps Research is internationally recognized
for its research into immunology, molecular and cellular biology, chemistry,
neurosciences, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and
synthetic vaccine development. Established in its current configuration in
1961, it employs approximately 3,000 scientists, postdoctoral fellows,
scientific and other technicians, doctoral degree graduate students, and
administrative and technical support personnel.

Scripps Florida, a 364,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art biomedical
research facility, will be built in the near future in Palm Beach County. The
facility will focus on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and
technology development. Palm Beach County and the State of Florida have
provided start-up economic packages for development, building, staffing, and
equipping the campus. Scripps Florida now operates with approximately 100
scientists, technicians, and administrative staff at 40,000 square-foot lab
facilities on the Florida Atlantic University campus in Jupiter.

SOURCE ChemDiv, Inc.
Web site: http://www.chemdiv.com

Join us at the

SBS 11th Annual Conference & Exhibition

Drug Discovery:

From Targets to Candidates

September 11-15, 2005

Geneva PalExpo, Geneva, Switzerland

SBS conferences encompass all aspects of drug discovery where high-throughput principles may be applied. The meeting this year, in Geneva, will devote individual sessions to various target classes to spark discussion of specialized technical and philosophical approaches. Cell-based assays are becoming increasingly important in early drug discovery, highlighting the need for industrialization of cell production and delivery.

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Sunnyvale, CA, July 19, 2005 – Labcyte Inc. has received U.S. Patent 6,916,083, its 21st patent, which discloses how to control the flow of a coupling fluid to provide efficient transfer of acoustic energy into a multi-well plate. The Labcyte® Echo™ 550 compound reformatter applies focused acoustic pulses to liquid in the individual wells of a multi-well plate in order to touchlessly move that liquid to a destination plate. This nanoliter transfer eliminates the serial dilutions commonly used in high-throughput screening (HTS) laboratories saving time and money while improving results and ending cross-contamination. In order to transfer quickly from a source plate to a destination plate, the transducer of the Echo 550 must move rapidly. This patent resolves problems encountered when rapidly moving a transducer such as the introduction of air bubbles and inconsistent coupling fluid flow.

“The techniques taught in this patent speed surveying, compound reformatting, microplate replication and cherry picking,” said Richard Ellson, Labcyte Chief Technical Officer. “By providing consistent acoustic coupling of the transducer during very rapid sequential motion of the acoustic transducer from well to well, more wells can be addressed per second by each of these processes. Also, for liquid transfers, these techniques compensate for the vertical motion of the transducer to focus acoustic energy at the fluid surface of each well.”

“Control of the coupling fluid increases the total number of surveys and assays that can be performed in a single day while maintaining high precision in the survey and transfer of biologically active compounds.”

The Echo 550 compound reformatter uses the technologies described in this U.S. patent as well as others in the company’s portfolio of 21 U.S. patents. The Echo 550 received an R&D 100 award for technical innovation and was the subject of scientific presentations on its use at pharmaceutical companies for high-throughput screening. The Echo 550 compound reformatter is in use at seven of the top ten pharmaceutical companies as well as in universities as part of the new Molecular Libraries Screening Centers Network (MLSCN), a component of the NIH Roadmap Initiative.

To view this patent, please visit link

To see a poster showing the use of acoustic droplet ejection moving cells, please visit link

To see a video of acoustic droplet formation, please visit

For more information on focused acoustic technology and the Echo 550 compound reformatter, please visit

Labcyte Inc. is a privately held company that was formed by the merger of Picoliter Inc. and Labcyte, LLC in October 2003. The company, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, provides plastic laboratory supplies, as well as the Echo 550 compound dispenser. The Labcyte acoustic liquid handling technology has broad applications in the life science including dispensing equipment, assay systems, particle manufacturing, microarrays, and live-cell transfer devices. Labcyte has 21 issued U.S. patents on acoustic technology and over 20 U.S. patent applications pending as well as additional international filings. For more information, visit the company’s website, www.labcyte.com.

ADME/Tox Web is a unique reference data and prediction service on the web that provides critical ADME/Tox information for both existing and new compounds on-line. Considered properties include pKa, pH-dependent solubility, passive absorption, active transport, Pgp efflux and inhibition, cumulative oral %F, AMES test, LD50 in mouse and rat (oral and iv), and six types of organ-specific effects. Each prediction is provided with compound-specifc probabilities as well as experimental data for similar compounds. This service is 100% automated, does not require any installations of your PC, and can be tried FOR FREE after simple registration. Pharma Algorithms, http://www.ap-algorithms.com/admetox_web.htm.

While the classical patch-clamp technique is the gold standard for ion channel investigations, it is a labour-intensive method performed only by skilled scientists. It hence fails to meet the requirements of pharmaceutical drug testing in regards to cost and time employed per data point.
With the miniaturized Port-a-Patch©, Nanion offers not only its first generation of throughput optimized patch-clamp automats, but also the world’s smallest patch-clamp workstation. This innovative drug discovery technology based on a micro-structured chip greatly facilitates electrophysiological experiments for ion channel screening. As the measurements are performed in an automated manner, it makes patch clamp available also to non-electrophysiologists.
The Port-a-Patch© is a complete patch clamp setup with minimum foot print and very low maintenance requirements. It uses Nanions planar patch clamp chips and provides high quality data on any ion channel target. Experiments are performed on a single cell at a time, whereby whole dose response curves can be obtained from a single cell. Due to its miniaturization, compound consumption is extremely low (in the µl range). The Port-a-Patch© enables a fast fluid exchange on the chip, allowing for experiments not only on voltage gated, but also on ligand gated ion channels. A software controlled perfusion system (8 channels) is also available from Nanion.
With the Port-a-Patch©, Nanion offers a valuable tool for target validation and safety pharmacology (hERG screening), that ideally complements other high throughput screening techniques. For more information, please contact us at info@nanion.de or visit our website at www.nanion.de.

Source: Nanion

TTP LabTech will be supplying Sienabiotech SpA with compound storage capability based on the comPOUND storage system. The deal involves a comPOUND sample store and a comPILER store-to-plate preparation system.

The new comPOUND system will be used by Sienabiotech in drug discovery programmes to facilitate storage, handling and registration required for hit validation and the identification of lead molecules relevant for treatment of neuronal diseases.

“The implementation of TTP LabTech’s compound storage system is an important step for Sienabiotech S.p.A. enabling integration of our compound collection and compound screening strategies”,- said Dr. Graeme Robertson, Vice President Therapeutic Research, Sienabiotech S.p.A. – “the flexibility of the system will allow us the desired sample storage and sample selection protocols to match compound selection to the targets being screened”.

TTP LabTech’s comPOUND is a self-contained, modular microtube storage system. Each comPOUND module can store up to 200,000 microtubes in a dry and inert environment at -20°C. Multiple comPOUND modules may be linked to provide expandable library storage capacity. comPILER is a modular store-to-plate processing system which assembles racks of selected microtubes received from comPOUND, and can process more than 15,000 microtubes in an 8-hour day without operator intervention. comPILER has been tailored to suit Sienabiotech’s requirements.

About Sienabiotech SpA
Sienabiotech is an innovative drug discovery company located in Siena, Italy. The company’s focus is on diseases of the central nervous system, including rare diseases, with the aim of pursuing validated drug targets and lead molecules for therapeutic intervention. In order to support the drug discovery process from exploratory target identification towards clinical studies, the company applies the most advance technologies in the field. Sienabiotech is the instrumental company owned by the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation for Scientific and Biotechnological Research.