Despite its importance in the regulation of many cellular processes, membrane tension is still complicated to measure. And despite valuable insights, the techniques currently available remain complex and present technical limitations. To overcome these drawbacks, Spirochrome have developed the first probe for fluorescence microscopy in the field of mechanobiology, that specifically targets the plasma membrane of cells and reports membrane tension through changes in its fluorescence lifetime : the Flipper-TR^® probe.

As ADME in vitro models are not just about human, mouse or rat hepatocytes and liver cell fractions, it’s important to have access to readily available sourcing for more seldom used models or tissues. Sekisui Xenotech can easily meet these demands with their Custom Products Division who has extensive experience preparing hepatocytes, subcellular fractions and other cells from a wide variety of species and tissue. The project can be fully customized for your particular needs, with the species, organ and characterization of your choice. Alternatively, you can benefit from the surplus list from previous extractions at competitive pricing and short time frame. I tell you a bit more about the 2 options in this post, and give you direct access to the current surplus inventory list. You may find what you are looking for in there!

Optimal knock-down can be done by a shRNA sequence that depends on the gene expression level and the cell type. Usually, 4 shRNA should be tested to find the one inducing a minimum of 70% increase of the targeted mRNA pool. Genecopoeia has developped shRNA expression vectors with improved performances.

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.