High-throughput screening in the diagnostics industry

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wilson ◽  
S. Howell

The diagnostics industry is constantly under pressure to bring innovation quicker to market and so the impetus to speed up product-development cycle times becomes greater. There are a number of steps in the product-development cycle where the application of high-throughput screening can help. In the case of lateral-flow immunodiagnostics the selection of antibody reagents is paramount. In particular, rapid identification of antibody pairs that are able to ‘sandwich’ around the target antigen is required. One screen that has been applied successfully is the use of surface plasmon resonance biosensors like Biacore®. Using such a system one can evaluate over 400 antibody pairings in under 5 days. Conventional approaches to screen this number of antibody pairs would take many months. Other automated screening systems like DELFIA® can be used in processing the vast amount of tests required for clinical trials. In addition, the use of robotics to automate routine product testing can be used to shorten the product-development cycle.

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbie Griffin

As global competitive pressure increases and product life cycles compress, companies are trying to shorten product development cycle times. The author investigates the relationship between the actual length of product development cycle times (in months) and several basic product development project strategy and process characteristics. The research quantifies how product development cycle times increase with increased product complexity and with product newness, how using a cross-functional team interacts with product newness in the way it acts to reduce cycle time, and how using a formal product development process interacts with product complexity in the way it acts to decrease cycle time. The findings suggest that using cross-functional teams is more important in projects in which less of the design is a carryover from a previous generation. Teams then had a large impact in reducing product development cycle times. In contrast, implementing a well thought-out process is more important in firms (or divisions of firms) developing complex products or services. The more complex a product, the more time a formal process eliminates from the development cycle.


Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Bader ◽  
Finn Meiners ◽  
Kirsten Tracht

High-throughput screenings are widely accepted for pharmaceutical developments for new substances and the development of new drugs with required characteristics by evolutionary studies. Current research projects transfer this principle of high-throughput testing to the development of metallic materials. In addition to new generating and testing methods, these types of high-throughput systems need a logistical control and handling method to reduce throughput time to get test results faster. Instead of the direct material flow found in classical high-throughput screenings, these systems have a very complex structure of material flow. The result is a highly dynamic system that includes short-term changes such as rerun stations, partial tests, and temporarily paced sequences between working systems. This paper presents a framework that divides the actions for system acceleration into three main sections. First, methods for special applications in high-throughput systems are designed or adapted to speed up the generation, treatment, and testing processes. Second, methods are needed to process trial plans and to control test orders, which can efficiently reduce waiting times. The third part of the framework describes procedures for handling samples. This reduces non-productive times and reduces order processing in individual lots.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (11) ◽  
pp. 38-43
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Van Bossuyt

This article examines different approaches that could be applied / used by engineers for lean design. Lean design can let companies make a profit while satisfying customers in the developing world. In developing markets, difficulty in gathering the necessary data can lead to lengthy delays or broad assumptions in the product development cycle. The iterative approach of lean design stresses leveraging sales data, customer feedback, and distributor feedback to evaluate and refine the important metrics of value, growth, and impact of a particular product that could drive the design process and optimize the product. The experts also say that when designing products for the developing world, making money is not the only value proposition. Engineers must keep ethics in mind. Engineers must also understand the social and health consequences of introducing products into the marketplace and ensure that any product does not adversely impact the customer or community. Products must be designed that have broad enough appeal to drive a sustainable market for the company.


2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhou ◽  
Rui Huang ◽  
Zhiguang Zhu ◽  
Yi-Heng P. Job Zhang

ABSTRACT Thermostability and specific activity of enzymes are two of the most important properties for industrial biocatalysts. Here, we developed a petri dish-based double-layer high-throughput screening (HTS) strategy for rapid identification of desired mutants of polyphosphate glucokinase (PPGK) from a thermophilic actinobacterium, Thermobifida fusca YX, with both enhanced thermostability and activity. Escherichia coli colonies representing a PPGK mutant library were grown on the first-layer Phytagel-based plates, which can remain solid for 1 h, even at heat treatment temperatures of more than 100°C. The second layer that was poured on the first layer contained agarose, substrates, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), the redox dye tetranitroblue tetrazolium (TNBT), and phenazine methosulfate. G6PDH was able to oxidize the product from the PPGK-catalyzed reaction and generate NADH, which can be easily examined by a TNBT-based colorimetric assay. The best mutant obtained after four rounds of directed evolution had a 7,200-fold longer half-life at 55°C, 19.8°C higher midpoint of unfolding temperature (Tm), and a nearly 3-fold enhancement in specific activities compared to those of the wild-type PPGK. The best mutant was used to produce 9.98 g/liter myo-inositol from 10 g/liter glucose, with a theoretical yield of 99.8%, along with two other hyperthermophilic enzymes at 70°C. This PPGK mutant featuring both great thermostability and high activity would be useful for ATP-free production of glucose 6-phosphate or its derived products.IMPORTANCE Polyphosphate glucokinase (PPGK) is an enzyme that transfers a terminal phosphate group from polyphosphate to glucose, producing glucose 6-phosphate. A petri dish-based double-layer high-throughput screening strategy was developed by using ultrathermostable Phytagel as the first layer instead of agar or agarose, followed by a redox dye-based assay for rapid identification of ultrathermostable PPGK mutants. The best mutant featuring both great thermostability and high activity could produce glucose 6-phosphate from glucose and polyphosphate without in vitro ATP regeneration.


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