tebu-bio - News

NEW cell type: Human Tenocytes

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

And growth medium: Now available at tebu-bio

Tendon, ligament, and joint capsular injuries, comprise a lot of musculoskeletal injuries. The frequency of tendon related injuries is expected to rise as the population ages and remains active. Primary tendon healing requires several weeks due to the necessary collagen deposition and remodeling.

Many researchers are investigating methods of speeding tendon healing while maintaining tendon strength and integrity. Therefore, significant research efforts are devoted to growth factors and small molecules that increase tenocyte proliferation and collagen synthesis.

100x 200x

Adult cells are isolated from the patellar tendon by either centrifugal force following enzymatic treatment or from an explants culture.

Each lot is tested via PCR and found non-reactive to viral DNA from HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV I, HTLV II, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Click the link to go to the products

Small GTPase Activation

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

New Pull-down assays for small GTPase activation tests

Pull-down format
Smaller size (if you're not ready for a larger kit)
Combo or Starter version
Ideal for starting activation experiments

Combo pack to measure activation of different small G

Combo pack includes enough materials for 10 assays to evaluate the activation level in cells of RhoA, Rac1, and Cdc42, as well as reagents for positive and negative controls.

Starter pull-down kits to test the activation of your favorite Small G

Each Starter kit contains materials for 20 pull-down tests depending on assay setups. Reagents for positive and negative controls are also included.

Designation	Effector protein	Size*
Combo RhoA/Rac1/Cdc42 activation Assay biochem kit	Rhotekin, p21 activated kinase 1	3 x 10 assays
Cdc42 Activation Assay Biochem Kit	p21 activated kinase 1	20 assays
Rac1 Activation Assay Biochem Kit	p21 activated kinase 1	20 assays
Ras Activation Assay Biochem Kit	Kinase Raf1	20 assays
RhoA Activation Assay Biochem Kit	Rhotekin	20 assays

* Larger sizes are available (up to 50 or 80 assays depending on the Small G Activation Assay Biochem Kit) as well as G-LISA kits for a fast and sensitive way to measure activation.

Actin & oxidation

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Discover Actin oxidation cycle

Find what you would like to know about this subject in the newsletter:

"Functions of actin oxidation cycle"

Download your copy here!

tebu-bio also offers a large range of tools in oxidative stress. Visit our dedicated web page to know more.

Primary Rat Cells for Biomedical Research

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Rat cells are used in many types of biological studies including drug screening, disease and genetic research. They are valuable models in fields as diverse as cardiophysiology, neuropharmacology, immunology, endocrinology, and oncology. To facilitate these studies we provide a wide range of primary rat cells and accessory reagents.

All our rat cells are:

high purity
low passage
rigorously characterised
performance tested

For your convenience, cryopreserved rat cells are offered as part of user-friendly total kits that include optimized growth media and subculture reagents.

Phase contrast images of

Top:

Rat Aortic Endothelial Cells (RAOEC),
Rat Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells (RAOSMC), and
Rat Astrocytes (RA)

Middle:

Rat Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells (RBMVEC),
Rat Neural Stem Cells (RNSC), and
Rat Cardiomyocytes (RCm)

Bottom:

Rat Dermal Fibroblasts (RDF),
Rat Epidermal Keratinocytes (REK), and
Rat Hepatocytes (RH) in culture.

Examples of research performed with our Rat Cells include:

Rat Aortic Endothelial Cells (RAOEC) have been used to study insulin-inducible vascular endothelial cell proliferation and regrowth after injury. (1)
Rat Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells (RAOSMC) have been used to study fibronectin as an important regulator of flow-induced vascular remodeling. (2)
Rat Astrocytes (RA) are capable of regulating neurogenesis by instructing the stem cells to adopt a neuronal fate. (3)
Rat Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells (RBMVEC) have been used to study the reduction of vascular leaking and retinal ganglion cell death following retinal ischaemia. (4)
Rat Dermal Fibroblasts (RDF) were used to study distinct regulation of L-Arginine metabolism in wound-derived fibroblasts. (6)
Rat Epidermal Keratinocytes (REK) have been used to investigate the role of voltage-gated sodium channel expression in pain sensation. (7)
Rat Cardiac Fibroblasts (RCF) are known to play key roles in the development of cardiac disease and hypertrophy. (5)

Additional rat cells available!

Discover the full range here.

References:

1. Gousseva, N., et al., J. Cell Biochem. 81(3):523-34. (2001)
2. Chiang HY, et al. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 29(7):1074-9. (2009)
3. Song, H., et al., Nature 417:39-44. (2002)
4. Danesh-Meyer, H.V., et al., Brain 135: 506 - 520. (2012)
5. Mareinfeld, U., et al., Basic Res. Cardiolo. 96(2):184. (2001)
6. Witte, M.B., et al., J. Surg. Res. 105(1):35-42 (2002)
7. Zhao P., et al., Pain 139(1):90-105. (2008)

NEW: Skin Microsomes & S9 from Mouse & Rat

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The most common route of administration of a drug, fluid or other substance is the oral route. Administration is easy, but it also has the significant drawback of poor bioavailability due to hepatic metabolism (first pass).

Many drug metabolizing enzymes of the liver and other visceral organs are also expressed in the skin. Epicutaneous or topical application can be used both for local effect as well as systemic effects.

We now offer pooled male microsomes and S9 fractions that are prepared from dorsal full-thickness mouse (CD-1) and rat (IGS Sprague-Dawley) skin tissue.

The following characterisation is provided:

NADPH-cytochrome c reductase activity
Testosterone 6β-hydroxylation
4-Methylumbelliferone glucuronidation
Clopidogrel hydrolysis
Methylprednisolone 21-hemisuccinate hydrolysis
Animal information and husbandry

Click here for the product listing.

Send your enquiries to mycells@tebu-bio.com

Antibody-gold colloid rapid conjugation kit

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Goldlink: the cost effective route to in-house conjugation in 15 minutes

These kits, containing BBI’s unique recipe gold colloid, are stable to high salt buffers and are pre-activated for antibody labelling. The antibodies are attached to the functionalized gold by covalent conjugation through the lysine residues, which produce a stable, non-reversible linkage.

Antibodies or proteins are covalently attached to ultra-stable BBI Goldlink Colloid at a very high OD, quickly and easily.

BBI’s gold colloid
No antibody pre-treatment required
Minimal user knowledge or experience required
Conjugate stability assured
Minimal antibody usage
Minimal antibody waste
Compatible with the most extreme conditions (e.g. 1M NaCl or 2.5M NaOH at 70oC for >1 hour).

Considerations prior to labelling

The optimum amount of antibody (which will influence the number of antibody molecules per particle) may be application-dependent and you may need to conjugate different amounts of antibody to optimize your assay (there is no risk of aggregation because of the protective surface coat.).

The initial amount of antibody recommended corresponds to 10ug of antibody per ml of 10 OD BBI Gold, which is about half of that normally used for passive (non-covalent) conjugations.

Purchase your GoldLink Kit

Product Code	Reactions	Gold Particle Size	Volume of Finished Conjugate
GLK3.40	3	40nm	50ul, 20OD
GLK10.40	10	40nm	50ul, 20OD
GLK1.40	1	40nm	1ml, 20OD

Run MDR1 Inhibition Assay with cold NMQ probe

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT

New MDR1/P-gp PREDIVEZ kit

The PREDIVEZ Vesicular Transport Kit is a simple and powerful tool to investigate drug transporter interactions. It provides information on any interaction between the ABC transporter and the drug candidate that would affect the transport of the substrate.

The major differences with the MDR1 PREDIVEZ we already provide are:

components are optimised for running the inhibition assay with cold NMQ probe substrate
use of LC/MS to measure the substrate accumulated in the vesicles

PREDIVEZ vesicular transport kits are available in three sizes: 3, 6 or 9 compounds. The kits contain sufficient amounts of reagents and membrane preparations needed for testing the mentioned number of compounds per 96-well plate. Each kit is accompanied by a CD that includes the assay protocol, an Excel spreadsheet with a data processing template, MSDS and the inhibition curves with reference compounds.

High-throughput cell invasion assay combined with protein microarrays

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT

A high-throughput cell invasion assay combined with reverse phase protein microarrays for rational development of drug combination strategies targeting tumour invasion

In patients whose cancers are not cured by surgery or initial therapy, tumour invasion and metastasis are responsible for 90% of all cancer related deaths. Clinical studies of novel inhibitors targeted against specific tumour-associated signaling pathways driving tumour invasion frequently fail due to redundant or compensatory pathway signaling that support persistent tumour invasion through distinct mechanisms. The aims of these studies are to develop and apply a multi-well “image-based” 3-dimensional (3D) invasion assay system incorporating distinct cancer cell types and ECM substrates (Oris platform– Platypus Technologies, LLC) in parallel with an ultra-sensitive and high-throughput reverse phase protein microarray platform to identify and validate drugs and combinations targeting distinct modes of tumour invasion. We have applied the Oris multi-well 3D invasion assay systems to evaluate compound potency upon invasion of the breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 through 3D collagen and Basement Membrane Extract substrates. Our results demonstrate dose-dependent inhibition of invasion following compound treatment, with enhanced activity observed in the 3D BME invasion assay. We are using the Zeptosens reverse phase protein array (RPPA) platform to identify post-translational signalling pathways that drive adaptive responses to monotherapy and to guide selection of drug combination partners.

Further testing of drug combinations in the Oris 3D invasion assay format shall enable quantification of additive and synergistic drug combination responses upon tumour invasion in parallel with cell viability endpoints. These studies provide a robust evaluation of drug combination hypothesis targeting tumour invasion that will help prioritize clinical development strategies.

HTS & HCA analysis of antimigratory compound phenotypes

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The discovery of antimetastatic agents that inhibit cancer cell motility has been hindered by a dearth of cell motility assays that are compatible with high‐throughput screening (HTS). Here we report the HTS performance and utility of the Oris™ Pro cell migration assay platform using the highly invasive MDA‐MB231 breast cancer cell line. This innovative cell migration assay utilizes a centrally located, self‐dissolving, non‐toxic biocompatible gel (BCG) to form uniformly sized, cell‐free detection zones. Cells are seeded into 384‐well clear bottom microplates that are compatible with a variety of high‐content screening (HCS) platforms and allowed to attach in an annular monolayer surrounding the BCG. Once the BCG dissolves, cells can migrate into the detection zone previously occupied by the BCG. The assay is logistically simple and does not require any additional processing steps, such as cell wounding or removal of physical barriers, which can be detrimental in cell migration studies. Using the number of cells that migrated into the exclusion zone as a primary readout, the assay was optimized for plating volume, cell seeding density and migration kinetics, and implemented on automated liquid handling equipment. The assay delivered Zfactors greater than 0.5 under both manual and automated processing conditions.

To exploit the assay’s multiparametric capabilities, we quantified motility‐associated activity profiles of six mechanistically distinct antimigratory agents including inhibitors of tyrosine kinases, actin polymerization, mitosis and Rac GTPases. Upon compound treatment, cells exhibited dose‐dependent loss of motility and assumed characteristic morphological phenotypes consistent with literature values. To translate these phenotypical observations into numerical values, digital images were acquired at two different magnifications on a ThermoScientific Cellomics ArrayScan, and analyzed with the Target Activation and Morphology Explorer Bioapplications. The assay delivered graded responses for all parameters tested (cell migration, chromatin condensation, cell density, nucleus area, cell size, actin content, and actin fibers) and accurately described the distinct cellular phenotypes instigated by the different antimigratory agents. The data demonstrate that the Oris™ Pro 384 Cell Migration Assay is compatible with automated liquid handling systems and HCS instrumentation and can satisfy HTS performance criteria.

PBMCs from Patient Donors

webmaster@tebu-bio.com — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Now available

Each vial contains 5 million cells from donors diagnosed with either

Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved with the possibility of follow-up donations for longitudinal studies.