Cell-Based Assays

At their core, cell-based assays are experiments where we use living cells (like standard immortalized lines, delicate primary cells, or complex 3D organoids) to test how biological systems respond to outside stimuli. This could be anything from new drug candidates to toxins or genetic therapies.

Think of it this way: instead of putting a target protein in a test tube and seeing if a molecule binds to it, you put that molecule into a working, living cell to see what actually happens in real life.

Biochemical assays are great for quick screening, but they lack biological context. A drug candidate might bind perfectly to an isolated protein in solution, but if it cannot cross a cell membrane, or if the cell immediately breaks it down into something useless, that hit is a dead end.

Cell-based assays give us the real story:

• Physiological context: You get to observe membrane permeability, active transport, and off-target effects in real time.

• Toxicity insights: You learn early on whether a compound actually kills the cell or alters its behavior before wasting months on downstream testing.

When we design our platforms, our main goal is simple: keep the cells happy while eliminating unnecessary waste.

Here is how our team approaches the workflow:

• Centrifugeless Washing (CYTENA C.WASH): Instead of poking needles into wells, the C.WASH uses soft centrifugal forces to spin liquid out of microplates. Your adherent monolayers, suspension cells, and 3D organoids stay intact, while background noise is dramatically reduced.

• Gentle, Non-Contact Dispensing (DISPENDIX I.DOT): Instead of using pipette tips, our drop-on-demand technology uses gentle air pressure to eject micro-droplets (down to 8 nL) straight into target wells. No tips ever touch the liquid, shear stress is practically zero, and dead volume drops to less than 1 µL per source well.
  
  

• Proof of Clonality (CYTENA UP.SIGHT): For single-cell isolation and functional assays, our microfluidics gently line up single cells while a nozzle camera takes a picture, giving you indisputable Day 0 proof of clonality with high post-dispense cell survival.

Absolutely, provided you have the right tools. Moving from standard 96-well plates to 384-well or 1536-well formats cuts consumable costs, which can dramatically reduce your cost per datapoint.

However, miniaturization only works if your liquid handler can accurately dispense nanoliter volumes without drying out the wells or killing the cells in the process. That is exactly why low-volume, non-contact dispensing has become the standard for modern high-throughput screening (HTS).

EXPLORE I.DOT