Better Results

• Don’t Lose Your Hottest Leads
• No Contamination from Pipette Tips
• Unsurpassed Precision and Accuracy
• More Accurate Cell-Based Assays

Don’t Lose Your Hottest Leads

Bristol-Myers Squibb compared IC₅₀ assays (3.3 M) prepared using the Echo liquid handler versus traditional serial dilution (Figure 1). The experiments were identical in every way except for the transfer of liquids and the development of the concentration gradient. The results revealed 110 compounds that showed significant activity when diluted using ADE, but would have been eliminated as ineffective when diluted using traditional serial dilution. Without their Echo liquid handler, BMS might have missed their best leads! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. Compounds in the lower left quadrant have low IC₅₀ values using both dilution methods and are considered active. Compounds in the upper right quadrant have high IC₅₀ values using both methods and are considered inactive. A large portion of the compounds tested (lower right quadrant) were mistakenly identified as biologically inactive using traditional serial dilution, but ADE transfer revealed potentially strong leads. In a million compound library, this would mean that hundreds of thousands of compounds were wrongly assumed to be inactive. The circled compounds had IC₅₀ values that were 10-to 100-fold lower when transferred using ADE than when transferred with pipette tips and serial dilution. In a typical compound library this could mean that tens of thousands of excellent leads are wrongly dismissed as inactive! Some of your best candidates will be lost if you do not use acoustic transfer and direct dilution.

A drug can’t go to the clinic if it never got to the assay.

No Contamination from Pipette Tips

Because ADE never touches the sample, there is no chance of cross-contamination among samples. In addition, substances in either water or DMSO leach out of disposable pipette tips. These substances have serious implications in biological studies, potentially acting as either activators or inhibitors.

Don’t risk corrupting your assays with contamination.


Unsurpassed Precision and Accuracy

ADE is more precise at low volumes than other transfer methods because with ADE nothing ever touches the sample (Figure 2.)

 

 

Figure 2. Volumetric precision of ADE compared to twelve other instruments.

Don’t be prevented from miniaturization by high CV%s. Switch to ADE for unsurpassed low-volume transfer precision.

More Accurate Cell-Based Assays

Even small amounts of DMSO can corrupt assays. Also, since DMSO is more dense than water, a bolus of DMSO will sink in a well (Figure 3) and can damage adherent live cells. With ADE the destination plate is inverted so that the DMSO distributes over the surface first, and mixes into the sample more gradually for more uniform exposure to both the DMSO and the compound.

Eliminate DMSO damage. Use acoustics to transfer samples without interference.