High Content Screening and Cell Based Assay Technology for Immune Biologics: An Exclusive Interview with Joseph Zock, IntelliCyt

High content screening and cell based assay technology has had to move fast to keep up with the ever extending needs of the drug discovery industry. Instrumentation and data analysis software innovations in the past two years have shown tremendous flexibility in both their applications and multi-mode technology. Michelle Maxwell, Drug Discovery and Development Editor, spoke with Joseph Zock, Senior Director of Product Management for IntelliCyt, about the future of screening and cell based assays, and the applications of the iQue Screener platform.

Joseph Zock is the Senior Director of Product Management for IntelliCyt. He joined CyBio AG three years ago as an application scientist. Joseph commented: “I have been involved with the development and proliferation of high content screening since its inception in 1997. Before that, I was a screen development coordinator at Eli Lilly and Company for almost a decade. I began my career as a molecular biologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.”

What are the applications of high content screening and cell based assays that you work on? What are the specific techniques you use in your lab?
We are focused on creating high content screening platforms, software and reagents that address suspended cell and bead formatted assays. This effort has culminated in the iQue Screener platform, using ForeCyt data acquisition and analysis software. Our main applications thus far have been in therapeutic antibody discovery and in phenotypic screening of immunology targets, such as T cell activation/proliferation and cytokine profiling, as well as a variety of cell health and function assays such as apoptosis and cell cycle.

What is it about the IntelliCyt technology that helps with screening and cell based assays?
Our detection is based on flow cytometry, but our rapid micro-volume sampling is built for screening. The system can generate multiparameter data on individual objects (cells, beads, microbes, and mixtures) at 10,000 objects / per second, out of as little as a microliter of sample from a well. We can process96-well plates in three-five minutes, fully automated, plate after plate. Due to the way each object is interrogated independently for all parameters, our detection method enables three dimensions of multiplexing: spectral based (four color collection), concentration based (multiple levels of single dyes) and label-free object characterization based (size and granularity/density). This gives an unparalleled ability to isolate cell and bead subpopulations and independently assess them in multiple ways.

What are the other applications that the technology is used for?
IntelliCyt technology has been used in a wide variety of biological scenarios, including virology / HIV research, parasitology (malaria), and anti-cancer target screens (Zhao et al., “a High Throughput Phenotypic Screen of Cytotoxic T Lyphocyte Lytic Granule Exocytosis Reveals Candidate Immunosuppressants”, JBS DOI:10.1177/1087057114557620 2014). We also have a genotoxicity application assessing micronucleus induction.

What is the future of the IntelliCyt technology? What areas of research is the technology moving into?
The future of IntelliCyt technology is very bright (no pun intended), as we continue to improve the spectral flexibility of detection, increase the analysis and visualization tools in the software, and investigate novel applications for the platform. We believe the combination of features and performance the iQue Screener offers is a perfect fit for addressing immune biologics, and will become the standard workhorse for immunology based drug discovery from therapeutic antibodies to immunomodulation.