Applications Cell Based Assays

Cell-Based Assays

Developing novel cell-based assays for research or high-throughput screening typically requires cell lines that stably express assay components, including protein subunits and functional enzymes, or purchasing commercially available stable cell lines or Assay Ready Cells.

MaxCyte^® electroporation enables you to adopt the right approach for each new project; make a single batch of transiently transfected cells for a large, one-off screening campaign, produce Assay Ready Cells to aliquot and cryopreserve to use when needed, or even develop a stable cell line in the best cell type for your target.

Electroporation for Cell-Based Assays

With MaxCyte technology and support, you can use transiently transfected cells for assay development and screening, saving time and money and providing the flexibility to get precisely the assay you want. Transient transfection with MaxCyte electroporation empowers you with:

Cell type, target and assay flexibility
Significantly faster assay development compared to stable cell line generation
Simplified assay development for toxic targets
Optimal assays kinetics with efficient concurrent co-transfection of multiple plasmids
Ability to fine-tune assay sensitivity by varying DNA concentration and plating density
Flexibility to cryopreserve and plate cells in any plate format
Improved well-to-well consistency
Minimal impact on cell health and membrane biology

Together, we can make your assay simple

With defined protocols and expert support, MaxCyte takes the guesswork out of cell-based assay development. Simply test different plasmids and plasmid ratios, DNA concentrations and cell plating densities to fine-tune assay sensitivity using small-scale electroporation. Once conditions are optimized, you can choose to develop a stable cell line or produce a large batch of transiently transfected Assay Ready Cells.

Transiently transfected cells can express complex, multi-subunit and even toxic proteins while maintaining cell health and membrane integrity. The ability to transfect up to 20 billion cells in one reaction makes producing your own assay or Assay Ready Cells simple.

Learn more about Assay Ready Cells

Applications Include:

Reporter Assays

Measure the expression of a reporter gene either by direct protein quantification or indirectly by quantifying the products of its enzymatic activity. Reporter assays have many applications, including studying transcriptional regulation and protein:protein interactions.

Ion Channel Assays

Can be used for target validation and drug discovery, and to characterize variants of unknown significance. The complexity of ion channels and their potential cytotoxicity make developing stable cell lines particularly challenging. MaxCyte electroporated, transiently transfected Assay Ready Cells are a proven alternative, even suitable for automated patch clamp studies.

GPCR Assays

At least a third of all currently available FDA-approved drugs modulate G-protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). With the challenges posed by the purification and crystallization of these large membrane proteins, cell-based assays using Assay Ready Cells are an attractive solution for GPCR drug discovery.

High Content Screening (HCS)

Uses high-resolution microscopy for multi-parametric cell analysis. HCS can be applied for diverse applications throughout drug discovery and development, including molecular translocation assays for the discovery of therapeutic chaperones.

Nuclear Receptor Assays

Either directly or indirectly measure nuclear receptor activity, enabling drug discovery and identifying compounds that may have potentially adverse effects on the expression of drug transporters or drug metabolizing enzymes.

Kinase Assays

Have traditionally been carried out using cell-free, biochemical approaches that can be challenging to develop and may limit the biological relevance of the data generated.. Cell-based assays enable kinase drug screening in a physiological, disease-relevant context, generating better quality leads earlier in the drug discovery process.

RNA interference (RNAi) Screening

Is a powerful tool that enables researchers to investigate the effects of knocking down selected genes and gene families using siRNA, miRNA or shRNA. The value of RNAi screening is linked with the biological relevance of the cell types used. MaxCyte electroporation enables siRNA and miRNA delivery to the most physiologically relevant cells for your screen.

CRISPR Screening

Uses CRISPR gene editing, typically in a genome-wide knock out approach, to aid our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease and to identify novel drug targets. MaxCyte electroporation enables the efficient delivery of CRISPR components to virtually any cell without compromising viability, even bringing the power of CRISPR screening to primary T cells.

Mammalian Display

Is used in the discovery and development of antibodies and antibody-like molecules with desirable affinity and developability. The high transfection efficiency, high cell viability, scale and scalability of MaxCyte electroporation enables researchers to develop and run these screens quickly and efficiently with the high sequence representation that is essential for success.

Accelerate and de-risk small molecule discovery

Using physiologically relevant cells for assay development delivers the best results, but those cells are not always simple to engineer. MaxCyte's versatile electroporation technology enables you to transfect virtually any cell type rapidly and efficiently, so you don’t have to choose between the best cell and the easiest cell.

Transfect physiologically relevant cell types with high efficiency and cell viability.

Transition seamlessly from assay development to high-throughput screening

Consistent assay performance following small or large scale cell based assay

Consistent assay performance following small or large scale electroporation.

Because you only want to optimize assay conditions once, MaxCyte^® electroporation delivers the same high-efficiency transfection in 75,000 cells or 20 billion cells - and everything in between - without reoptimization. Transiently transfected cells can be used immediately in cell-based assays or cryopreserved for future high-throughput screening.

Resources

Application Note

High-Throughput Screening of Ion Channel Variants Using Automated Patch Clamp Recordings in Assay Ready Cells

Primary Literature

Yellow Fluorescent Protein-Based Assay to Measure GABA_A Channel Activation and Allosteric Modulation in CHO-K1 Cells

Poster

MaxCyte®: A Versatile Tool for SARS-CoV-2 Response

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Electroporation Systems

The MaxCyte ExPERT STx^® is the next generation of the industry’s leading electroporation technology for seamless transition from R&D to manufacturing scale. The STx enables large-scale transfection of virtually any cell type for the rapid development of cell-based assays without the need for stable cell lines.

Learn More about our ExPERT platform

Reagents and Processing Assemblies

MaxCyte’s consumable products provide a variety of options for project scale and throughput from discovery through manufacturing using a single platform. Our range of Processing Assemblies allows users to transfect a variety of sample volumes to meet specific application needs. MaxCyte’s universal electroporation buffer is animal-derived component free and safe for all cell types ensuring consistent, high-performance transfection.

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Ready to learn more about our technology?

Ask us how electroporation can streamline development of cell-based assays

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