Assay Services

Cell viability and toxicity is often a key measure for drug screenings and can be highly informative for determining efficacious concentration ranges for a drug. We perform several cell viability and toxicity assays for cell culture health across multiple cell types.

• Assay plates are run in 96-well layout allowing evaluation of multiple compounds and culture conditions.
• Any BrainXell neuronal of glial cell type of interest can be utilized. Spinal motor neurons or cortical glutamatergic neurons are most requested.
• A typical assay would include a series of 7 concentrations and a vehicle control, with an n of 3 for each compound.
• Viability is determined using CellTiter-Glo® 2.0 assay (Promega). Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) assay also available for toxicity measurement.
• Low intra-assay variability.

As experts in immunofluorescence, we can culture, label, and capture images in a streamlined process providing you with raw images and optional basic analysis. We have multiple options to meet your imaging needs. BrainXell neurons or glia of your choice can be utilized along with a multitude of culture conditions. Based in 96-well plates, we can perform intra-assay controls and multiple experiments in the same culture.

• Brightfield, phase contrast and fluorescence with up to 4 channels allowing the identification of multiple proteins or markers within a single culture or cell.
• Wide-field epifluorescence microscopy at 10X, 20X, 40X, or 60X.
• Temperature and CO¬2 controlled imaging chamber for live-cell acquisition as well as kinetic experiments.
• Ability to capture time-lapse brightfield or phase contrast images for a region of interest.

MEA measures inherent electrical activity within a cell culture. Recordings provide a clear and concise readout for neuronal activity, synaptic networking, and functional responses to drug treatments.

• Utilizes an Axion Maestro Edge and Cytoview MEA plates, which contain 24 wells with 16 recording electrodes per well.
• Specific cell types, cell combinations, seeding densities and drug treatments can be applied to measure effects on electrical activity within the culture.
• Culture activity can begin to be seen after a week in culture, with network activity arising during second and third week of cultures.
• Standard assay includes 3 recordings per week over four weeks of culture.
• Data analysis includes dozens of key parameters of neuronal activity and network function, such as mean firing rate, burst frequency, burst duration, interspike intervals, synchrony index, and many more.

Electrode Brightfield image pulled directly from Axion

Using our iPSC-derived neurons and glia, we can analyze gene expression changes following compound treatments. We perform qPCR to quantify the expression of your target transcripts.

• qPCR assay service encompasses the culturing of neurons or glia in 96-well format, compound treatments, RNA extraction, reverse transcription, and real-time qPCR assessment of mRNA Levels.
• Employs TaqMan™ Gene Expression Assays, the gold-standard for specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility.
• Can detect virtually any gene transcript, using probes from more than 2.8 million predesigned TaqMan™ assays.

Cell cultures are often utilized for post-collection analyses such as RNAseq or ELISA assays. We grow cells across a variety of platforms in different sized plates or flasks to support needed sample collection.

• Culture sizes range from 20K cells/well in a 96-well plate to 2M cells/well in a 6-well plate.
• Culturing cells can include different treatments as well as media collection both during and following compound addition.
• Option available to snap freeze entire plates following lysis with Trizol, RIPA buffer, or kit based lysis. Collection of cell pellets available for lower sample numbers.