PerkinElmer Launches New Assay Development Service for Advanced Cellular Science and Drug Discovery

PerkinElmer, Inc., a global technology leader in Health Sciences and Photonics, today announced the launch of a comprehensive assay development service for high-performance, highly sensitive assays in advanced cellular science and drug discovery research.

"Whether it's developing custom assays, increasing assay densities from 96- to 384- or 1536-well, or converting outdated assay technologies to next-generation platforms, our assay development service can fast-track development of application-specific assays for pharmaceutical and research customers, saving them time and money and letting them concentrate on analyzing results instead of setting up experiments," said Richard Eglen, Vice President and General Manager of the Discovery and Research Reagents business of PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences. "The service brings together PerkinElmer's industry-leading advanced technologies, our deep expertise in high throughput screening, and our recognized commitment to service to ensure success for our customers in their important research."

Assay Development Services for High-Value Targets

The new service offers comprehensive assay solutions for high-value g-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) and kinase cell-based screening including highly sensitive, high throughput platforms such as the AlphaScreen^®, AequoScreen^®, DELFIA^®, and LANCE^® technologies.

GPCR and protein kinases actively signal and regulate several important functions within cells, presenting a wide range of therapeutic targets in areas including cancer, central nervous system disorders, cardiac dysfunction, and diabetes, making them among the most important areas of study in today's pharmaceutical and biotech laboratories.

Optimized reporter gene assays are available utilizing steadylite plus™ and britelite plus™ technologies. In addition to cell-based GPCR and kinase assays, the service also offers biochemical enzyme and radioligand binding assays on the FlashPlate^® or Image FlashPlate^® platforms in 384-well or 96-well formats.

The assay development service will also provide miniaturization of tough-to-automate immunoassays. PerkinElmer's AlphaLISA™ technology offers a homogenous alternative to traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), enabling labs to easily automate these assays for greater productivity and throughput while achieving higher sensitivity, a wider dynamic range and therefore more relevant data. The service will facilitate a seamless conversion from ELISA to this new enabling technology.

Consultative Development Process

Following scientific consultation with the laboratory, PerkinElmer will propose development and validation studies and cost estimates. The studies may include anything from initial assay formatting and feasibility, to optimization of the assay protocol for robustness, to validation of performance characteristics such as reproducibility. During this, and other milestone phases, PerkinElmer works closely with laboratories to maintain a workable balance between cost and technical objectives. PerkinElmer assay development typically takes two to four weeks. Subsequent training, assay transfer and validation at the customer site are supported by PerkinElmer's scientists.