SBIR-STTR Award

Human Ion Channel Pharmacology in Droplet Bilayer Membranes
Award last edited on: 12/29/14

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
NIH : NIGMS
Total Award Amount
$1,300,069
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
-----

Principal Investigator
Jason L Poulos

Company Information

Librede Inc

570 Westwood Plaza Cnsi Room 1225
Los Angeles, CA 90095
   (818) 835-5432
   poulos@librede.com
   www.librede.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 36
County: Los Angeles

Phase I

Contract Number: 1R43GM097763-01
Start Date: 9/15/11    Completed: 3/14/12
Phase I year
2011
Phase I Amount
$163,750
Ion channels pharmaceutical discovery and safety screening is slow and expensive and as a result, there are currently no high quality, high throughput assays for ion channel screening. Librede Inc. is developing alternative cell-free technologies for ion channel measurement which have the potential for higher throughput and lower cost. In preliminary work, we have demonstrated a platform for formation and measurement of artificial cell membranes that is compatible with automated motion control hardware. Measurements of these membranes show that they are able to house ion channels with properties matching the scientific literature. The initial work with this platform utilized manual positioning and assembly of the components under constant monitoring and feedback. Although this was sufficient to demonstrate the technology, it is not sufficient to demonstrate its suitability for high throughput and automation processes. Here we propose to construct a mechanical jig which will allow assembly of the membrane components ""blind"", simulating automated processes. With this jig, we will cycle the membrane formation apparatus, measuring the properties of the resultant artificial membranes to determine the degree of reproducibility and therefore the suitability of this process for automation and high throughput. We have designed a plate which is compatible with industry standard 384 well fluid handling systems and contains a modification of our initial membrane formation apparatus which tolerates minor mechanical positioning errors. In the proposed work, we will use the plate and ascertain whether these modifications are sufficient or require further improvement. We will cycle the apparatus over 500 times, measuring the yield of the resulting membranes and their ability to reconstitute ion channels. The processes developed will be scalable an entire 384 well plate and the mechanical jig easily adapted for use with motion control robotics, positioning our platform for Phase II adapting it for high throughput automation.

Public Health Relevance:
Measurement of ion channel interactions with drugs is a key process in drug screening, but current technologies are slow and expensive. Our team has recently developed a method for formation of an artificial cell membrane that is compatible with robotic automation. We propose here to develop tools and processes that enable the scaling and cycling of this technology resulting in high throughput ion channel measurement.

Thesaurus Terms:
Adopted;Artificial Membranes;Automation;Biotechnology;Cardiac;Cell Membrane;Cells;Cytoplasmic Membrane;Development;Drug Delivery;Drug Delivery Systems;Drug Interactions;Drug Screening;Drug Targeting;Drugs;Ensure;Equilibrium;Evaluation Studies, Drug, Pre-Clinical;Evaluation Studies, Drug, Preclinical;Feedback;Freedom;Future;High Throughput Assay;Hour;Housing;Industry;Ion Channel;Ionic Channels;Ions;K Channel;Loinc Axis 2 Property;Loinc Axis 4 System;Lateral;Liberty;Licensing;Liquid Substance;Literature;Maintenance;Manuals;Measurement;Measures;Mechanics;Medication;Membrane;Membrane Channels;Membrane Transport;Methods;Minor;Modification;Monitor;Motion;Organism-Level Process;Organismal Process;Performance;Pharmaceutic Preparations;Pharmaceutical Agent;Pharmaceutical Preparations;Pharmaceuticals;Pharmacologic Substance;Pharmacological Substance;Phase;Physiologic Processes;Physiological Processes;Plasma Membrane;Plastics;Play;Position;Positioning Attribute;Potassium Channel;Potassium Ion Channels;Preclinical Drug Evaluation;Process;Production;Property;Proteins;Reproducibility;Research;Risk;Robotics;Safety;Screening Procedure;Simulate;System;Technology;Time;Transmembrane Transport;Work;Balance;Balance Function;Base;Blind;Cost;Design;Designing;Developmental;Drug Candidate;Drug Discovery;Drug/Agent;Fluid;Gene Product;Health Care Quality;Healthcare Quality;High Throughput Screening;High Throughput Technology;Improved;Instrumentation;Liquid;Mechanical;Membrane Assembly;Membrane Structure;Neural;Operation;Patch Clamp;Plasmalemma;Reconstitute;Reconstitution;Relating To Nervous System;Screening;Screenings;Tool

Phase II

Contract Number: 2R44GM097763-02
Start Date: 9/15/11    Completed: 1/31/15
Phase II year
2013
(last award dollars: 2014)
Phase II Amount
$1,136,319

Ion channel drug discovery and safety screening are limited by high cost per data point, low throughput, and complexity. To directly address these industry-wide pain points, Librede Inc. is developing an alternative cell-free technology for ion channel screening, based on the measurement of ion channels in artificial droplet membranes. By eliminating cells at the point of measurement, our technology enables much lower running costs and simplified assay development. In preliminary work, we have used our platform to measure TRPM8 and hERG ion channels and obtain drug IC50 and EC50 values in agreement with state-of-the-art ion channel electrophysiology platforms. In Phase I development of our technology, we created an automation- ready prototype array plate, and verified its reliability and high yield by using it to create over 1000 artificial membranes. In the Phase II work proposed here, we will validate our platform with four ion channels: hERG, Kv7.1, TRPV1, and Cav1.2, selected for their relevance to screening and their degree of complexity. We will optimize the methods of preparing these ion channels from commercially available host cells to achieve highly repeatable and reliable conductance measurements. We will then use these preparations to measure the effects of drugs on the channels' conductance in a dose-dependent manner, generating reliable and repeatable IC50 and EC50 values that we will compare to those obtained from automated patch clamp screening instrumentation. These drug measurements will be performed using the array plates we developed in Phase I, allowing us to evaluate their performance for a simulated screening application. During the proposed work, we will collaborate with the research group of Prof. Jacob Schmidt at UCLA who, with the PI, initially developed the proposed technology. The Schmidt group will aid Librede by initially processing and measuring the ion channel preparations and then transferring this technology to Librede to replicate, optimize, scale-up, and ultimately commercialize. At the completion of this work, we will have validated four highly relevant ion channels pharmacologically in our system and demonstrated its operation in assay conditions. This validation will demonstrate our system's performance to potential end users and allow placement of instrument prototypes with identified beta testers and early adopters. The Phase II work proposed here is a critical step in the development of our new cell-free electrophysiology platform which can address the main industry pain points of cost, throughput, and ease of use (Librede's value proposition), and has the potential to significantly impact ion channel drug discovery and safety screening.

Public Health Relevance:
Ion channel drug discovery and safety screening is slow, laborious, and expensive, hindering the development of new drugs. Librede is developing a cell-free platform for ion channel screening based on artificial cell membranes with the potential to screen ion channels faster, easier, and cheaper. In the proposed work, we will validate our platform by using it to measure drug interactions with four diverse ion channels.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Ion channel drug discovery and safety screening is slow, laborious, and expensive, hindering the development of new drugs. Librede is developing a cell-free platform for ion channel screening based on artificial cell membranes with the potential to screen ion channels faster, easier, and cheaper. In the proposed work, we will validate our platform by using it to measure drug interactions with four diverse ion channels.

Project Terms:
Achievement; Address; Adoption; Agreement; Arrhythmia; Artificial Membranes; assay development; Automation; base; Biological Assay; Cardiac; Cardiac Death; Cell membrane; Cells; Contracts; cost; Data; Data Quality; Development; Device or Instrument Development; Dose; Drug Delivery Systems; drug discovery; Drug Interactions; Electrophysiology (science); Equipment; Guidelines; high throughput screening; Housing; Human; Industry; Inhibitory Concentration 50; instrument; instrumentation; Ion Channel; Libraries; Literature; Market Research; Measurement; Measures; meetings; Membrane; Methods; novel strategies; operation; Pain; patch clamp; Performance; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pharmacologic Substance; Pharmacology; Phase; Physiological Processes; Preparation; Process; Process Measure; Protocols documentation; prototype; Reagent; relating to nervous system; Reporting; Research; Risk; Running; Safety; scale up; Screening procedure; Simulate; Solutions; System; Technology; Technology Transfer; Testing; Transmembrane Transport; TRPV1 gene; Validation; Work