Newcells Biotech use ImageXpress Pico to develop new cell models
COMPANY/UNIVERSITY
Newcells Biotech
TEAM MEMBERS
Kathryn Garner, Principle Scientist
PRODUCTS USED
ImageXpress Pico
The Challenge
Newcells Biotech is an expert in building and applying complex models of human tissues for drug discovery, providing validated in vitro tools to understand how drugs interact with tissues. Their aim is to enable the generation of robust and informative data to support critical decisions during any stage of drug development or toxicity testing.
Currently they offer three key platforms to their clients – kidney, lung and retina – to test a wide range of compounds including small molecules, antibody-drug conjugates, oligonucleotides and more. Some of these models are grown on Transwells or other, semi-permeable inserts.
In order to support the development of their models, and for quality control purposes, the Newcells team needed to improve the imaging of the models they create. The difficulty they faced looking for a solution, was to find one that could achieve the depths required when imaging Transwells, and while a manual confocal imager could deliver the images they needed, the acquisition time needed would have been prohibitively long for the team. The ability to rapidly perform live cell imaging in the lab was another critical consideration, as the laboratory was some distance away from the core imaging facility.
The Solution
The ImageXpress® Pico Automated Cell Imaging System enabled Newcells Biotech to substantially scale up their imaging capabilities of complex cell models; currently averaging approximately 18 plates per week across a range of techniques – from fixed and immunostained plates to live cell imaging. What the team found particularly useful was the preset setting for semi-permeable inserts. With this optimal setting, they could accelerate throughput while being assured of data quality.
ImageXpress Pico Automated Cell Imaging System
Products Used
The ImageXpress® Pico Automated Cell Imaging System is more than a digital microscope, combining high-resolution imaging with powerful analysis. Whether running fluorescence imaging or brightfield assays, the automated imager features a comprehensive portfolio of preconfigured protocols for cell-based assays to shorten the learning curve, so you can start running experiments quickly.
The Results
They now use the ImageXpress Pico routinely across a range of assays and applications, especially for their kidney platform:
- Large molecule uptake (megalin/cubilin-mediated) and clearance in their primary proximal tubule cell (aProximateTM) model. This involves a live cell imaging assay with fluorescently labelled compounds, including FITC-albumin internal control.
- Toxicity assays such as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis.
- Mitochondrial toxicity assays in the aProximateTM model, including Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production, and mitochondrial transmembrane potential.
- Disease modeling including diabetic nephropathy, inflammation (using their kidney glomerulus model), and fibrosis modeling.
Additionally, the ImageXpress Pico is ideal for their lung platform:
- Lung Fibroblast-to-Mesenchymal Transition (FMT) assay in their human lung fibroblast model - including extracellular matrix (collagen) deposition, proliferation assay (EdU incorporation), and α-SMA detection (factor of activated fibroblasts).
Human lung fibroblasts stimulated with TGF-β1 for 72hours and immunostained to detect extracellular collagen I as a measure of matrix production
Human lung fibroblasts stimulated with TGF-β1 for 72hours and immunostained to detect total collagen I (pink) and alpha-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA) (green) as a measure of matrix production and fibroblast activation respectively.