ForteBio Launches New Assay Capabilities for High-Sensitivity Protein Quantitation and Fragment Screening on Its Octet(R) Platform

ForteBio(R), Inc., a leading supplier of label-free technology that accelerates the development of biotherapeutic and pharmaceutical products, today announced that it has launched two new assay modules - for high-sensitivity protein quantitation and fragment screening, respectively - for use on the company's Octet(R) instrumentation platform.

The new modules are available via software upgrades and will enable, for the first time, life science researchers who require these capabilities to access the high-throughput, ease-of-use and cost-effectiveness of ForteBio's leading label-free technology.

The new high-sensitivity assay module can detect low nanogram per mL levels of analytes in quantitation mode. "For protein quantitation, life science researchers have traditionally run fluorescence and luminescence ELISA methods to achieve greater sensitivity in their assays. Now, using ForteBio's new modules, they can obtain highly precise results within an hour, enabling follow-up research to be conducted the same day," said Christopher Silva, ForteBio's vice president of marketing. "Additionally, labs that have transitioned from ELISA techniques to the Octet platform have improved their productivity by 50 to 70 percent, with no additional cost per well." ForteBio's off-the-shelf biosensors can be regenerated online, enabling the cost per well to begin at approximately 10 cents, while custom quantitation assays can be run by biotinylating the protein of interest using streptavidin biosensors.


The new fragment screening assay methodology extends the company's small molecule analysis capabilities - available on ForteBio's Octet RED system - by enabling kinetic characterization and screening of fragment libraries that include compounds in the 150 to 300 dalton range. "Fragment-based lead generation is becoming an increasingly important component of drug discovery," said Mr. Silva. "Currently, fragment screening assays are typically run on lower-throughput, microfluidic-based SPR systems, which can become a bottleneck in the drug discovery process. The Octet platform's sensitivity and ability to assay precipitating compounds using a 'dip and read' format, its greater dynamic range and our new analysis software capabilities, enable rapid screening of fragment libraries in a microplate format."


ForteBio's Octet biosensors are configured in a standard microplate format. Its biosensors simplify quantitation and kinetic characterization by eliminating throughput limitations of traditional SPR-based systems. Octet biosensors are coated with a proprietary biocompatible matrix that is uniform, non-denaturing and has minimal non-specific binding.