Thermo Fisher Scientific Launches New Biological Assessment Cartridges

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced that it will introduce three new biological assessment cartridges for the Thermo Scientific Cellomics ToxInsight in vitro (IVT) toxicology platform during the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. The event takes place April 17-22, in Washington, DC.

The ToxInsight™ IVT platform advances drug discovery and development by enabling multiple toxicity assessments on a cell-by-cell basis. The platform includes automated cell imaging instrumentation, software and reagent cartridges with pre-validated panels for toxicity assessment targets. Tier I panels allow rapid profiling of multiple simultaneous toxicity endpoints, while Tier II follows with single endpoint assays to determine mechanism of action. This simple, intuitive workflow offers greater sensitivity and specificity compared to traditional methods.

The three new Cellomics ToxInsight cartridges expand the Tier II panel, offering follow-up screens to supplement the existing organelle health and proliferation/cell death assays:

• The Cellomics ToxInsight Phospho-ATM Activation Cartridge enables monitoring of DNA damage and cell cycle check-point signaling events through ATM phosphorylation (Ser1981) in the nuclei. The cartridge contains a primary monoclonal antibody that detects the phosphorylated form of human ATM, a goat anti-mouse secondary antibody conjugated to Thermo Scientific DyLight 549 Fluorophore and other reagents and buffers required for immunofluorescence staining for high-content imaging analysis.
  
• The Cellomics ToxInsight Phospho-H2AX Activation Cartridge contains optimized reagents for detecting and quantitating phosphorylated H2AX (Ser139) in the nucleus. H2AX belongs to a H2A family of histones. DNA damage by various agents leads to rapid phosphorylation of H2AX at Ser139 (also known as gamma H2AX) by ATM, ATR or DNA protein kinase, leading to the formation of DNA foci at the site of DNA double-strand breaks.
  
• The Cellomics ToxInsight Phospho-ATM and p53 Activation Cartridge contains multiplexed reagents for detecting and quantitating phosphorylated ATM (Ser1981) and p53 in the nucleus of the cell.

These new cartridges, added to the existing assays that monitor organelle health and proliferation/cell death, offer users a deeper understanding of toxicity profiles. And, as part of the ToxInsight IVT Platform, these tools create a new standard for in vitro toxicity testing, allowing better decisions to be made earlier in the discovery process.