INDIGO Biosciences Expands Line of Ortholog Kits and Screening Services

(State College, PA; February 26,2013) – Five new ortholog test kits have been added to the 17 ortholog screening services in the INDIGO Biosciences, Inc., portfolio of cell-based nuclear receptor reporter assays. Researchers can access reliable results for mouse or rat PPARα, PPARβ/δ and PPARγ using INDIGO kits or through the company’s screening services. Rat and mouse CAR ortholog kits are under development and will be released soon.

“Studying gene orthology makes sense if you have data suggesting activation of a nuclear receptor in common laboratory animals such as rats, mice or fish, and you wish to extrapolate this information to humans,” said Dr. Jack Vanden Heuvel, INDIGO Biosciences chief scientific officer. “This is particularly important if you are studying xenobiotic-sensing nuclear receptors such as PPARα, PPARβ/δ and PPARγ, but also when comparing efficacy and potency of ligands for other members of this family.”

INDIGO Biosciences’ ready-to-use assay systems are simple, reliable and accurate. The company’s lab-in-a-box assay kits can be shipped overnight so that scientists can produce data within 24 hours featuring excellent Z’ scores and high signal-to-noise ratios.

“Each ortholog kit includes reporter cells, assay plates and all reagents,” said Dr. Bruce Sherf, INDIGO Biosciences chief technology officer. “The products feature engineered reporter cells prepared using our CryoMite^™ process, a long-term cryo-preservation of cells for shipping and storage and on-demand use.”

In addition, INDIGO Biosciences offers contract screening services for more than two dozen individual ortholog nuclear receptor reporter assays. The company provides fast turnaround times and easy-to-analyze data reports. For more information, visit INDIGOBiosciences.com to review the complete catalog of on-demand screening assays.