'Fast and simple' drug-discovery screening

Procedure using Rubidium efflux assay technique and automated atomic absorption system delivers a simple, low-cost method of monitoring potassium ion channel activity

Thermo Elemental says its new drug-discovery screening procedure using the Rubidium efflux assay technique and an automated Thermo Elemental S4 atomic absorption system delivers a simple, low-cost method of monitoring potassium ion channel activity.

Drugs that modulate ion channels are a key class of pharmaceutical agents with applications across a wide range of therapeutic areas.

Using direct readings from an industry-standard autosampler and a 96-well plate with standard or deep wells, the method has demonstrated both high sensitivity and good precision.

Correlation with the approved electro-physiological method is excellent and there is no interference, unlike some fluorescence procedures, nor costly reagents and health hazards, as there are in radioactive-tracer methods.

A single system can process approximately 1,500 samples per eight-hour period based on the typical sample throughput of four samples/min.

This new procedure will speed up the drug-discovery processes and provide cost-effective identification of potential therapeutic compounds that act on the potassium channel.

Many of the worlds top pharmaceutical companies are already successfully employing this latest high-throughput screening technique.

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