The 22nd North American ISSX meeting was held this year in Montreal where scientists joined together to discuss issues in drug development. Hot topics included transporters, pharmacogenomics, and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). The transporter session included lectures on kidney and hepatic transporters and potential association with drug-induced liver injury (DILI).

Why Utilize Cell-based Assays?

The definition of a buffy coat often depends on who you ask. Buffy coat from a research lab processing point of view is a different product than buffy coat produced from a blood bank or donor center.

At this year’s 110th AACR, Immuno-oncology was the topic of many discussions including seven out of eleven plenary sessions. Biggest of all was the lung cancer plenary session that discussed potentially standard-of-care-changing results from Merck, BMS, and Roche in relation to PD-L1 biomarker-related first-line treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

Why are Tissue Cross-Reactivity Studies Needed?

Skin is the largest organ and represents the body’s protective surface as the first contact site for topically applied substances. It plays a key role in controlling not only the penetration and distribution but also the metabolism of topically applied chemicals and is thus a first pass organ for penetrating substances.

It has been said that gene expression researchers measure messenger RNA (mRNA) because they can and not because they want to. Somewhat controversial perhaps, but the thought behind this is that measuring specific proteins and particularly functionally-active protein is all-important. However, the reality is that measuring functional protein activity requires a bespoke assay while measuring specific proteins invariably requires the use of antibodies. For new protein variants, antibodies are often unavailable, and even if they are, gene expression researchers have long-realized that antibodies frequently underperform in the lab. Embarking on the process of generating an antibody or a functional assay for a new protein variant is therefore not always straightforward.

We presented two posters at SOT this month in San Antonio that highlighted research performed by our Durham team. They worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS).

In October 2017, the FDA published revised draft guidance on DDI studies, entitled In Vitro Metabolism and Transporter-Mediated Drug-Drug Interaction Studies. The guidance is the 4th Drug-Drug Interaction (DDI) Guidance document released by the agency and replaces the previous Guidances published in 1997, 2006, and 2012.

Top Tips for Hepatocyte Handling Running a successful experiment using cryopreserved primary hepatocytes can be an effective and hassle-free experience when you follow all the correct hepatocyte handling procedures. The following are some key best practices in the handling of hepatocytes. Our optimized and standardized methods produce the highest quality hepatocytes in the industry. To achieve the best results in your lab we have provided our top tips to guide you in your ADME-Tox research.