Wednesday, September 24, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
The drug discovery industry faces increasing challenges to shorten the time frame and lower the cost of developing new drugs, but the absence of suitable high-throughput cell-based assay tools extends the timeline and puts more “bad” candidates into expensive pre-clinical and clinical trials. Overcoming this limitation is the BioFlux 200 System from Fluxion Biosciences, South San Francisco, Calif., a microfluidic device for high-throughput live-cell analysis using microscopic imaging or plate reader scanning which delivers physiologically relevant data much earlier in the drug discovery process.
The BioFlux 200 is a multiplexed, microfluidic laminar flow chamber system for the study of cell-cell interactions. The heart of the system is the BioFlux plate which uses standard format well plates in which the plate bottom has been replaced by a network of microfluidic channels. The plates are fabricated so that the channels connect to specific wells depending upon the type of experiment being run. Software automatically controls the flow of cells and reagents, making the BioFlux a multiplexed, fully automated solution for running flow-based cellular assays.
Technology
Microfluidic device for high-throughput live-cell analysis
Developer
Fluxion Biosciences
