Gemma N. Jones et al has recently published in the British Journal of Cancer an article revealing pRAD50 (Ser635) as a pharmacodynamic biomarker of ATM (AZD0156) and ATR inhibitors (AZD6738) to treat cancers. doi:10.1038/s41416-018-0286-4

Key sensors of DNA damage such as ATM and ATR are targets of choice for drug discovery. A useful screening method is based on synthetic lethality. The pre-screening can be done on convenient HeLa cells.

Recombinant protein production and protein purification raises the tricky question of host cell proteins (HCPs). To monitor the purification level of your protein of interest, the HCPs must be quantified. Of course, the quality and the optimisation of purification depends upon it. Here, we’ll take a look at an alternative to the gold standard, offering a way to detect more HCPs present in the production. So, are you ready for higher grade detection?

The iQuant kits developped by ABP Bioprobes provide accurate quantitation of DNA and RNA with a wide range including high sensitivity. They are useful for NGS applications, qPCR analysis, and in vitro transcription to produce RNA.

Fluorescent-based quantitation

Fluorescence-based DNA and RNA quantitation using the iQuant kits is highly sensitive. It is also specific for DNA or RNA providing more accurate concentration in the presence of common contaminants, including free nucleotides, protein, detergents and salts.

Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) is a classic substrate for peroxidase activity that is used for microwell plate analysis such as an ELISA test. A quantitative color change from yellow to blue reveals the activity and can be read at 620-650 nm for ELISA test.

Substrate selection in immunoassay development

Surmodics have developed several types of TMB, for different purposes.