Caliper In the News
CALIPER EXPANDS CORE RECEPTOR SCREENING FRANCHISE WITH NEW CELL-BASED GPCR ASSAY TECHNOLOGIES
November 2, 2009
- CDAS Launches Label-Free Screening Services in Partnership with SRU Biosystems –
HOPKINTON, Mass., November 02, 2009 -- Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CALP), a leading provider of tools and services for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced a partnership with SRU Biosystems (Woburn, MA) through which Caliper Discovery Alliances & Services (CDAS), Caliper’s CRO division, will offer label-free, functional GPCR screening assays and profiling panels. This partnership enables CDAS to offer an innovative platform technology for cell-based GPCR assays using a greatly expanded array of cell lines for its drug discovery services.
“Label-free screening systems offer great promise for evaluating drug candidates in cellular systems that are closer to the natural state of the human body, including primary cells and stem cells, and therefore may more accurately predict safe and effective pharmaceutical outcomes,” said David Manyak, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Discovery Services at Caliper Life Sciences. “We believe that the combination of CDAS’ broad experience with GPCR pharmacology and SRU’s innovative BIND technology platform will enable wider use of label-free technology and provide new applications that will lead to greater productivity for our clients’ drug discovery programs.”
“Caliper Life Sciences is an excellent partner for SRU. They are uniquely positioned to offer BIND technology as a contract service to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical communities. They have tremendous knowledge utilizing innovative technologies to advance drug discovery and will provide an outstanding new service to the drug discovery industry,” said Rick Wagner, Ph.D., President and CEO of SRU Biosystems.
Separately, CDAS has expanded its access to a comprehensive portfolio of cell lines, including more than 100 GPCRs, through a licensing agreement with Perkin-Elmer. These cell lines enable both traditional cellular functional assay methods for GPCRs, such as aequorin-based (using AequoScreen lines) or cAMP-based (e.g., ValiScreen), and for use for validating label-free methods. Coupled with CDAS’ existing radioligand receptor binding assays and other traditional functional assays, CDAS now has one of the most comprehensive solutions for GPCR drug discovery in the industry with offerings for high throughput screening, selectivity screening, side effect profiling, and systems biology.
Caliper and SRU will be providing further details on the SRU-BIND instrument systems and functional GPCR assay validation data at a special meeting on Advances & Challenges in Label- Free Technologies in Drug Discovery organized by the Society for Biomolecular Sciences (SBS), being held in San Diego, CA, on November 2-3, 2009.
About SRU Biosystems
SRU Biosystems, Inc., is a life science company offering novel, label-free tools used to answer important biological questions in biomedical research and pharmaceutical drug discovery. SRU’s label-free BIND® Technology can rapidly analyze the interactions of genomic, peptide, antibody or small molecule compound libraries against a wide range of cellular and biochemical targets. www.srubiosystems.com
About Caliper Life Sciences
Caliper Life Sciences is a premier provider of cutting-edge technologies enabling researchers in the life sciences industry to create life-saving and enhancing medicines and diagnostic tests more quickly and efficiently. Caliper is aggressively innovating new technology to bridge the gap between in vitro assays and in vivo results and then translating those results into cures for human disease. Caliper’s portfolio of offerings includes state-of-the-art microfluidics, lab automation & liquid handling, optical imaging technologies, and discovery & development outsourcing solutions. For more information please visit www.caliperLS.com.
Caliper and CDAS are registered trademarks of Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. and SRU Bind is a trademark of SRU Biosystems Inc. .
Media Contact:
Melissa Bruno/Kristin Villiotte
Schwartz Communications
781.684.0770
caliper@schwartz-pr.com
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