Electrophysiology Assay Services

Aurora Biomed provides functional assay services on an exclusive, out-sourced basis. We are currently carrying out assay services for various ion channel targets including hERG safety screen. Several options for these services exist, we can read/test flux assay samples from your experiments on ICR, we can screen your compounds/library in our laboratories or we can accept cell lines to develop assay for you as part of our services.

Aurora Biomed has a team of highly trained molecular biologists have a solid understanding of ion channels and cold flux assay services. We enjoy a challenge and feel confident in providing solutions to further your ion channel screening needs.

We are pleased to offer both cold flux assay services using our proprietary Ion Channel Reader technology and manual voltage-clamp electrophysiology assay services.

Cold flux assay services utilize tracer ions to study the ion channel of interest. The method of detection for Aurora Biomed’s cold flux assays is flame atomic absorption spectroscopy as employed by our proprietary Ion Channel Reader technology. The Ion Channel Reader Series provides a high throughput format for ion channel screening by the flux assay approach. The use of high throughput assays helps reduce the burden on electrophysiology by providing some idea of which compounds should be screened if resources are limited and not all compounds can be screened with manual-patch clamp. The cold flux assay approach is ideal for determining which compounds to follow up with electrophysiology as there is a strong linear correlation (R=0.88) and consistently identical drug rank orders between the two methods.

Manual voltage-clamp electrophysiology is the gold-standard for ion channel screening. Moreover, the FDA requires in vitro electrophysiology studies in conjunction with in vivo studies for compounds submitted for NDA status. Oocyte-based studies assess potential cellular mechanisms that may not be evident from in vivo data.

Aurora Biomed offers manual voltage clamp screening service on a variety of ion channel targets. Ion channels of interest are expressed either stably in CHO or HEK293 cell lines or transiently in Xenopus oocytes, and then electrophysiological recordings are made after exposure to compounds. A variety of studies can be performed, depending on the needs of the clients.

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