On the cutting edge

Looking at just a few of the products and solutions that have passed through our inboxes at DDNews recently, we have help for your work on cardiomyocytes from AMSBIO, a way to potentially shorten your development times from Quotient Sciences and a new set of quantitative assay apps from BioTek.

 

ABINGDON, U.K—AMSBIO has introduced human recombinant iMatrix Laminin 211 fragment for the purification and maintenance of cardiomyocytes in culture. The Laminin family of glycoproteins are an integral part of the structural scaffolding in almost every tissue of an organism, notes the company, and they are secreted and incorporated into cell-associated extracellular matrices.

 

Laminin 211 is known to support the growth, survival, and differentiation of a wide range of tissue-specific cell types, including cardiac cells, skeletal muscle cells and motor neurons. As one of the main isoforms present in adult muscle tissue, Laminin 211 is critical for cardiomyocyte function and heart muscle development.

 

Proven to support functional cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle cells culture, according to AMSBIO, iMatrix Laminin-221 is a simple to use recombinant fragment that retains the full integrin-binding activity of Laminin-211.

 

NOTTINGHAM, U.K.—In October, the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) published a white paper sharing study results that indicate Quotient Sciences’ Translational Pharmaceutics platform reduces development times by more than 12 months and lowers R&D costs by more than $100 million per approved new drug, compared to traditional multi-vendor development paradigms.

 

Translational Pharmaceutics is a platform that integrates formulation development and real-time adaptive manufacturing and clinical research to accelerate drug development. It has been used widely by pharmaceutical and biotech companies to advance molecules from first-in-human to proof-of-concept and accelerate the development and optimization of clinical formulations.

“Our own studies have demonstrated significant benefits, and we are pleased that Tufts CSDD has accurately quantified the time and cost benefits of our unique Translational Pharmaceutics approach to drug development,” said Dr. Mark Egerton, Quotient’s CEO. “Quotient Sciences has worked hard over the past decade to develop this innovative platform to help our customers lower costs, accelerate development and improve R&D productivity.”

 

"Despite longstanding efforts by the pharma industry to operate more efficiently, traditional drug development paradigms and outsourcing models still present a number of challenges for today’s drug developers," said Dr. Joseph A. DiMasi, director of economic analysis at Tufts CSDD and principal investigator for the study. "The outcomes from this research indicate that Translational Pharmaceutics can create substantial time savings and financial benefits to pharma and biotech companies."

 

Concluded Dr. Peter Scholes, chief scientific officer of Quotient: “Translational Pharmaceutics accelerates the development timeline by integrating drug product manufacturing into the clinical research program. Emerging clinical data are then used in real time to inform the optimization of a clinical formulation and maximize the potential for the drug to achieve its desired therapeutic effect.”

 

WINOOSKI Vt.—A new set of quantitative assay applications from BioTek Instruments Inc. reportedly provide convenience and simplicity for researchers performing four commonly used detection-based applications:  absorbance-based BCA, Bradford, Lowry protein assays and fluorescence-based DNA assays.

 

These apps are powered through Gen5 Data Analysis Software and are compatible with BioTek microplate readers equipped with the relevant detection mode, including the popular Cytation and Synergy multimode readers.

 

 User-friendly features include predefined protocols with simple step-by-step setup, along with quick plate map definition and easy data export. After detection, BioTek’s Quantitative Assay Apps perform automatic curve fitting as well as concentration normalization and target volume calculations.

 

BioTek is part of Agilent and its comprehensive product line includes cell imaging systems, microplate readers, washers, dispensers, automated incubators and stackers. These products enable life-science research by providing high performance, cost-effective analysis and quantification of biomolecules, biomolecular interactions and cellular structure and function across diverse applications.