Add-on adds mass-spec ability
Veloce system, transforming it into a front-end sample preparation
tool that lets users rapidly perform MS assays.
The time-triggered fraction collector add-on is intended for use on the Veloce micro parallel liquid chromatography system, turning it into a front-end sample preparation system for drug metabolism, pharmacokinetic assays and other bioanalytical applications.
The Veloce system, used in conjunction with a 24-column Brio cartridge, performs 24 analytical separations simultaneously and significantly decreases the sample-to-result time for researchers saving both time and cost.
Nanostream has established this piece of equipment as a response to customer requests of an interface to mass spectrometry (MS). The add-on enables users to accelerate routine assays that require MS, MS/MS or alternate modes of detection. Applications that would benefit from the Veloce system with fraction collection include metabolic stability assays, pharmacokinetic profiling.
The fraction collector outputs collected fractions for each eluent at fixed time intervals across all 24 channels to SBS-standard plates. This convenient format affords users flexibility in their selection of subsequent modes of detection, which may depend on the specific requirements of the assay.
The add-on is controlled by software that allows unattended operation. It also incorporates an integrated plate changing system with the capacity to transfer up to 70 plates, a rinse station for passive and active rinsing of the needles and user-defined collection windows based on specified retention times.
One particular advantage enables the user to take the separation offline and increase analytical throughput for chromatographic preparation of samples. By decoupling the chromatography from detection and quantitation, scientists will be able to fully utilise existing MS instrumentation and thereby rapidly perform routine MS screening.
"It is well known that poor ADME properties are responsible for a large portion of attrition among drug candidates. ADME studies, specifically drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic profiling, have emerged as a major bottleneck for pharmaceutical organisations, and there is a major push to move these kinds of studies earlier in the drug discovery process," said Surekha Vajjhala, director of marketing, Nanostream.
"Our solution helps to overcome this bottleneck by increasing analytical throughput and, by doing so, offers a path to moving these studies to earlier stages of drug discovery," he added.
Studies, which the Veloce is comfortable with, such as drug-drug interaction studies and bioavailability studies are performed to characterise absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) properties of potential drugs, are typically performed in later stages of drug discovery.
Many HTS targets fail to yield useful drug leads, either because an assay robust enough to be reliable at the high-throughput scale cannot be developed, or the poor performance of the assay fails to provide reliable 'hits'. Assay development, which may take months to years, can be a significant bottleneck in the drug discovery effort.
While the rate of discovery is rising, fuelled by investment in biomedical science, there is a serious bottleneck between the laboratory and medicine development. The premise behind Nanostream's development of high-throughput MS is that it does away with the need for substrate labels or enzyme coupling.
The add-on for the Veloce system is available now at Nanostream's website.
