Axol Bioscience, a biotechnology company specialising in the use of stem cell technology to manufacture disease-relevant cell-based assay systems to the drug discovery industry, has introduced multi-electrode array (MEA) screening for human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cells. The new services have been developed to support pre-clinical research by optimising hiPSC-derived cell culture, while providing high-quality electrophysiological data acquisition and analysis from physiologically relevant human cell models.
As part of this, Axol is incorporating the Maestro Pro, a market-leading MEA platform from Axion Biosystems. This will allow customers to benefit from Axol’s catalogue of hiPSC-derived cells and in-house electrophysiology expertise, in combination with Axion’s most advanced offering. The Maestro Pro enables continuous label-free and real-time data acquisition and analysis from 768 electrodes, in up to a 96wp format, allowing for a high-throughput of data.
Axol’s MEA screening service offering will include a recording of field action potentials from neurons and cardiomyocytes; local extracellular action potential (LEAP) and contractility recordings from cardiomyocytes; cell visualisation and multiplexing for microscopy and calcium imaging assays; targeted panel compound and new chemical entity (NCE) screening; cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity testing; cell, co-culture and disease model validation; long-term cell proliferation studies and bespoke projects and pilot studies.
Liam Taylor, CEO, Axol Bioscience, said: “We have worked extremely hard to establish ourselves as the market-leading provider of neuroscience and cardio-based hiPSC-derived cells. As we grow, it’s now time to also offer our considerable in-house expertise to the preclinical drug discovery market. As such, we are proud to announce our new MEA capability utilising the industry-leading Axion Maestro Pro platform.”