Advancing our knowledge of cancer biology and developing diagnostics and therapeutics to diagnose and treat the increasingly common and often debilitating disease is a difficult endeavor even on a good day when experiments run smoothly and insights take shape. The multitudes of cancer breakthroughs that have been realized over the last several decades have been enabled by passionate scientists as well as millions of lab products, from consumables to complex instruments, that make all the essential experimentation possible.
This article highlights a small but noteworthy group of products integral to cancer research that were showcased at AACR.
ASSIST PLUS: A Versatile Pipetting Robot
Integra’s ASSIST PLUS Pipetting Robot brings automated pipetting to labs large and small, eliminating the need for dedicated personnel or complex programming. By utilizing INTEGRA electronic multichannel pipettes, the system automates pipetting tasks, reduces physical strain, and ensures superior reproducibility and error-free pipetting. The pipetting robot delivers ergonomic benefits by reducing the strain of manual pipetting. It also provides increased reproducibility through constant pipetting angles, tip immersion depths, controlled pipetting speeds, and accurate well targeting. It boasts a wide pipetting range, featuring a selection of pipettes from 4 to 16 channels for precise transfers from 0.5 to 1250 µl. In addition, it offers fast reformatting capabilities with on-the-fly adjustment of tip spacing to enable access to various labware types, and easy programming through the VIALAB software with a graphical user interface for intuitive protocol creation. The Integra ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot was used by researchers at the University of Goettingen in a new protocol that increased the throughput of an SYBR Green assay to quantify RNA gene expression of iPSCs into a specialized cell type.
The EVOS M5000: A Powerful Microscope for Cell Imaging
The EVOS M5000 microscope from Thermo Fisher Scientific is a versatile tool for cell imaging labs, offering a range of advanced features. Its Stage View functionality allows users to track their location and mark areas of interest, while the user-friendly design and connectivity to Thermo Fisher Connect facilitate a streamlined imaging workflow. The microscope's capabilities include autofocus, Z-stack imaging, time-lapse, and automated cell counting, making it a valuable asset for a broad range of applications and imaging requirements. Among a myriad of applications, the EVOS M5000 has been used by a Cornell University researcher to help better understand and manipulate cell dynamics, which could be leveraged to change the expression of molecules that active the immune system to fight cancer.
Enhancing Transfection Efficiency with the Neon NxT
The Neon NxT electroporation system from Thermo Fisher Scientific utilizes electrodes in a biocompatible pipette tip and buffer tube to create a more uniform electric field, improving transfection efficiency and cell viability. Serving as the transfection chamber, the pipette tip eliminates the need for sample transfer, reducing pipetting steps, minimizing sample loss, and decreasing shear force on cells. This innovative system simplifies the electroporation process, allowing for efficient transfection of challenging cell lines. With optimized parameters for various cell types and CRISPR delivery, researchers can save time, preserve samples, and achieve enhanced genome editing efficiency. In 2020, Neon electroporation technology was used by a team at Southeast University in Jiangsu, China, to enable a novel approach that used engineered exosome to deliver miRNAs to target cells to overcome drug resistance in colorectal cancer.
Simplifying Tumoroid Culture with Gibco OncoPro Medium
The Gibco OncoPro Tumoroid Culture Medium Kit from Thermo Fisher offers a user-friendly way to expand patient-derived tumoroid lines. This optimized medium addresses the complex culture requirements of tumoroids, making it easier to create physiologically relevant cancer models. With streamlined media preparation, culture methods, and versatile application across various cancer indications and downstream assays, the OncoPro kit enhances accessibility to tumoroid culture for research purposes. Although Gibco OncoPro Tumoroid Culture Medium was developed for the expansion of established tumoroid lines, it has also been used to derive new tumoroids from patient tissue as explained in this application note.
Organoid Toolbox Accelerates Drug Development and Disease Modeling
Acro Biosystems’ Organoid Toolbox offers a comprehensive suite of organoids, differentiation kits, and diverse services to facilitate superior in vitro simulation of human tissues and organ function. This innovative platform enables researchers to better predict drug responses, investigate disease mechanisms, and accelerate drug development and personalized medicine. In addition to developing vascular organoids from tissue sources, Acro also has expertise in developing cerebral, midbrain, cardiac, intestinal, retinal and liver organoids. Its organoid disease model development service has broad capabilities including developing models induced by reagents or pathogenic proteins as well as gene-edited versions. Disease models in development include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease, neuroinflammation, and the blood brain barrier. Acro also provides comprehensive toxicity and efficacy testing services based on cells and organoids.
PhenoCycler®-Fusion 2.0 Accelerates Discoveries with High-Speed Imaging and Barcoding
Powered by high-speed imaging and proprietary barcoding technology, Akoya Biosciences’ PhenoCycler®-Fusion 2.0 now also features multi-slide automation with parallel processing of slides. These advanced capabilities help researchers uncover more discoveries, faster. The system can image 1 million cells in just 10 minutes, unlock scalable plexing with barcoded antibody technology, and maximize throughput without compromising imaging area, plex, or data quality. Offering whole-slide scanning, support for various tissue formats, and customizable proteomic or multiomic panels, the PhenoCycler®-Fusion 2.0 provides significant content and speed to accelerate spatial biology research. Last year, the PhenoCycler was used as part of a study to map the spatial proteome of head and neck tumors.
Multifaceted qPCR Thermal Cycler Delivers Reliable Results Across Diverse Applications
The qTOWERiris Real-time PCR Thermal Cycler from Analyik Jena is a powerful instrument that can process up to six targets simultaneously, delivering clear signals across the spectrum, from UV-A to near infrared. Boasting factory calibration, unparalleled temperature homogeneity, and whisper-quiet operation, this open system ensures reliable results and a pleasant laboratory environment. With its flexible color modules, wide range of compatible consumables, reagents, and assays, and direct application support from the manufacturer, the qTOWERiris offers maximum flexibility and versatility to meet the diverse needs of any research project.
Compact and Efficient Plate Reading with Simple Reader™
Simple Reader™ from Bio-Techne is a compact plate reader ideal for 96 well ELISA plates and protein analysis. With 96 individual detection units, it reads plates in under 5 seconds. Its small size enables decentralized workflows, allowing researchers to have their own unit without occupying excessive bench space. The reader features 4 LED light sources and measures optical densities at 450 nm, 490 nm, 540 nm, and 595 nm.
UVP BioSpectrum Advanced Offers Comprehensive In Vivo Imaging Capabilities
Analytik Jena’s UVP BioSpectrum Advanced is a comprehensive bioimaging system that offers in vivo imaging capabilities for sample documentation and analysis, including in vivo animal imaging, plant imaging, chemiluminescence, NIR, and fluorescence. The system features deeply cooled CCD camera sensors capable of imaging fluorescence, chemiluminescence, and bioluminescence, as well as extended NIR, violet (405 nm), red, green, and blue laser bars, white epi (overhead) illumination, motorized platform lift, and automated lens. Users can further customize the system by adding a sample warming plate, UV light transilluminator, or blue light transilluminator to suit their specific application needs. Key features include a choice between two deeply cooled camera options, a fully loaded overhead laser bar setup, a 6-position automated filter wheel with RFID-tagged filters for automatic software detection, and a motorized lift for optimized image capture. A recent application note describes the use of the UVP BioSpectrum Advanced in the development of a mouse model of breast cancer metastasis to the brain.
AbNano™ VHH Naïve Library: A Diverse Resource for Antibody Discovery
The AbNano™ VHH Naïve Library from Fortis Life Sciences is a fully natural, single-domain naïve library constructed from 103 naïve animals: 77 llamas and 26 alpacas. A total of 1.51 x 1010 PBMC cells were collected and used for library construction, which followed Abcore's internal workflows for RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis, and PCR amplification using species-specific primers. Transformants were analyzed initially by Sanger sequencing and then subsequently analyzed by NGS methodology. Reads were clustered and analyzed for diversity and confirmed to meet the company’s QC standards. The total number of transformants for the library was 1.12 x 1010 CFU. This library can potentially bind a wide range of targets, making it an efficient starting point for antibody discovery. With a comprehensive data package and a construction time savings of 18 weeks, the AbNano™ VHH Naïve Library is a valuable resource for researchers seeking to identify antibodies for therapeutic, diagnostic, and research applications.