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Article Excerpt
The analytical instruments and systems typically used in drug discovery and protein detection and characterization are generally expensive, cumbersome, time consuming, and can be prone to generating false readings. To exploit the vital need for faster, less expensive, and more accurate drug discovery, protein detection, and chemical analysis techniques, Cytoplex Biosciences, inc. (San Leandro, CA) (www.cytoplex.com), which began operations in 2000, has developed an electrochemical array biosensor platform that leverages nanoengineered materials and silicon microchip technology to provide a streamlined, lower-cost, and reliable mechanism for drug discovery, protein detection, genetic analysis, as well as other applications, such as environmental monitoring, food product development, and biowarfare detection.
Moreover, Cytoplex has additional technologies for enhancing such areas as micofluidics and drug/liquid delivery systems.
Cytoplex's business model rests on developing innovative technology that addresses customer problems in the life sciences, medical device, process industries, and other sectors (including, potentially, automotive) and establishing collaborations with key companies that significant expertise in the design, production, and marketing of instrumentation for the target markets of interest.
Cytoplex, founded by Dr. Alex Freeman (214-868-9101), the company's president and CTO, focuses on developing novel surface chemistries, nanoengineered materials, and micro-devices. Cytoplex has developed two platform technologies, for which patents have been filed: the Flexion platform for enhanced ion-channel drug discovery/screening, and the NanoSense platform for streamlined protein detection.
Cytoplex's core technology, the Flexion platform, combines nanoengineered materials with biosensors and can significantly streamline and enhance the discovery of drugs that use ion-channel bioproteins. The platform enables the ion channel function to be recorded in a high-throughput fashion and probing of the various molecular pathways simultaneously, providing cross-platform integration for complete, real-time, high-content measurements.
The Flexion platform can be efficiently utilized to generate new chemical entities (NCEs) for a variety of ion-channel diseases. Cytoplex notes that the platform enables a highly integrated approach to ion-channel drug discovery leading to novel drugs that elude discovery using other approaches. The Flexion platform-which consists of an electrophysiology patch clamp assay on a silicon microchip with integrated microfluidics-purportedly allows for integrated assays with a 100-fold...
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