PerkinElmer Launches Three New Drug Discovery Reagent Platforms

23-09-2002: Boston, Sep 19, 2002 - PerkinElmer, Inc., a leading provider of drug discovery, life science research and genetic disease screening solutions, today announced the availability of three new cutting-edge reagent technologies for drug discovery screening, enabling drug discovery customers to perform critical assays more accurately and with greater time efficiency and cost savings. DELFIA(R) GTP Binding Assay kit, the first non-radiometric platform for - guanosine triphosphate (GTP) binding; Image FlashPlate(TM), a new red-emission technology for a wide range of high throughput screening (HTS) imagers; and britelite(TM) and steadylite HTS(TM), breakthrough luminescence technologies for G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) functional screening applications. These innovative products will be showcased in Booth #10 at the Conference for the Society for Biomolecular Screening (SBS) on September 22-26 at The Hague.

The new DELFIA GTP Binding Assay is the first non-radiometric assay kit that screens for GTP binding, offering customers the industry's only alternative to radiometric assay screening. This represents a major advance over current methods because it offers a fast, simple protocol and eliminates the difficulties associated with radioactive-based assays. The proven DELFIA time-resolved fluorescence (TRF) technology provides excellent sensitivity and features high signal-to-noise ratios with low background. This new reagent platform is now automated by integrating PerkinElmer's MiniTrak(TM) microplate processor.

The new Image FlashPlate(TM) offering is a next-generation assay platform for high throughput screening laboratories enabling imaging in the desirable red-spectral range, which provides superior sensitivity and improved signal-to-noise ratio over traditional HTS methods. The Image FlashPlate(TM) provides a fast, easy and cost-effective way to increase throughput while achieving more accurate results. The Image FlashPlate(TM) is a 384 shallowwell microplate that emits light in the red spectrum, thus combining ultra-miniaturization with superior performance. The Image FlashPlate(TM) is now available in uncoated and streptavidin- or wheat germ agglutinin-coated formats.

Britelite(TM) and steadylite HTS(TM) are two new luminescence assay systems for reporter gene assays used in functional GPCR screening applications. The steadylite HTS reagent platform features a long-lived signal, making it ideal for the batch processing environments typically experienced in large-scale automated screening. Steadylite HTS(TM) also offers excellent sensitivity, thus facilitating miniaturization and increasing reagent cost savings. The britelite(TM) platform offers high throughput screening labs superior sensitivity over current offerings, allowing remarkably robust assays with an ultra-bright signal. Both products offer the advantage of one plate preparation, from cell culture to reagent addition and analysis. In addition, steadylite HTS(TM) and britelite(TM) offer the simplicity and speed of a homogeneous assay protocol and are available in 96-, 384- or 1536-well formats. These new reagent platforms are complementary to PerkinElmer's world-class ViewLux(TM) uHTS microplate imager, as well as the new EnVision(TM) multilabel microplate reader.