PharmaDiagnostics launches SoPRano assay kit for in-house assay development

15 Sept 2010

Brussels based PharmaDiagnostics NV has launched the SoPRano CA1 assay kit. The new kit allows users to couple their own proteins to SoPRano gold nanoparticles and build and run their own assays.

This was previously available only as a service provided by PharmaDiagnostics, and the new kit will now greatly expand the accessibility and utility of the technology to customers.

SoPRano technology is based on a variant of the well-established surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon, and for the first time makes label-free screening available in high throughput on a standard plate-reader.

Label-free screening is an area of great interest and growth in pharmaceutical research. To date, the expanding SPR segment of this market has been dominated by providers of expensive specialist instrumentation that is unable, due to technical constraints, to provide the throughput required for routine screening.

With the launch of the first in a new family of kits, PharmaDiagnostics is now able to deliver on the promise of label-free SPR screening by enabling researchers to develop and run their own high-quality, cost-effective assays without the need for expensive capital equipment.

The kits enable users to develop assays for a range of applications, including fragment screening, focused high throughput screening (HTS), antibody discovery, and hit confirmation. The company also already offers SoPRano kits for a range of ADME and physicochemical properties, including plasma protein binding, pKa and redox potential.

PharmaDiagnostics’ SoPRano label-free platform is the first SPR-based system to utilize standard plate-readers, and simple assay protocols. This increases for researchers, lowers barrier to adoption and also offers excellent scalability, thus lowering costs, as it is not necessary to increase instrument expenditure to increase throughput.

“The new SoPRano assay kit is another illustration of PharmaDiagnostics’ commitment towards providing broader access to label-free screening technology,” said Dr David Ricketts, CEO at PharmaDiagnostics. “We have seen that the market is seeking flexible access to label-free screening technology, which we now offer both as a service in PharmaDiagnostics’ laboratories, as well as through the SoPRano kits which enable customers to develop and run their own assays.”