Wet Lab

Our wet lab is fully equipped to handle all aspects of typical lab work and we offer services ranging in size from single plate experiments to full or partial genome screens. We have a range of equipment available that is designed to facilitate experiments in microplate formats (96 and 384 well plates). Investigators can choose to have members of their lab work with us at our facility or have our staff run the experiments independently. Clients wishing to work at our facility will be charged an hourly rate for equipment usage in addition to any cell culture fees. Experiments run by our scientists will be billed on a per experiment basis. Investigators are responsible for all assay-specific supplies including, media and supplements, antibodies and control siRNA. Please see our rates pages for more detailed pricing information.

For clients wishing to use our facility:

Equipment and Lab Space
Equipment and lab space can be used as part of a screening campaign or on a per experiment basis for an hourly rate. Our equipment includes:
• Electronic Multichannel Pipettes
  Facilitates experiments in microplates (96 and 384 well format)
• Multidrops
  Automated liquid dispensing for media changes and reagent additions
• Plate Washers
  Conduct rolling washes to allow for washing plates without disturbing cells

Cell Culture
The HTCB has a complete cell culture facility and offers hoods and incubator space for any scale experiments. Investigators wishing to culture cells at our facility will be charged a fee for maintenance and hourly rates for equipment usage. Our team has experience working with many different cell lines and can maintain cultures between experiments.

Plate Reader and Imaging
We can provide access to plate readers and microscopes for hourly rates. Our facility has Tecan InfiniTe plate readers for simple fluorescent and luminescent analysis as well as the Perkin Elmer Opera and Ultraview for microscopy. For more information please see our imaging page.

For clients wishing to run a screen:
We have designed a series of steps that will help optimize your assay for a screening campaign. All assay development experiments can be run either by our staff or members of your lab. At the conclusion of assay development, a series of assay optimization steps will take place. These experiments will be run by our scientists and are designed to familiarize our staff with the assay and check all equipment for the appropriate settings. The final step before beginning a full screen is assay validation, a small scale pilot screen run under the same conditions as the full screen. For more information on these steps, please see below.

Assay Development
Development of a robust assay for screening can be the most sensitive and time consuming part of the campaign. To limit variation in the screen, we have designed a series of experiments to test for the prerequisite conditions needed for successful screening including:
• Determination of an assay readout
  Picking the right readout for the assay. This step will be a collaboration between the HTCB and the referring investigator.
• Dynamic Range and Variation
  Testing the assay under various conditions to ensure a robust readout.
• Transfection tests
  Testing the cell line for its ability to be transfected under different conditions and ensuring the assay performs the same.
• Determination of Controls
  Positive and negative controls that have the desired effect will be tested on the assay
• Scaling Up and Statistical Tests
  Larger scale testing of the assay and determination of plate level statistics. Last step before proceeding to validation screen.

These experiments can be carried out by members of your own lab at the normal hourly rates or transferred to our facility and run by members of our staff. HTCB scientists are highly trained in handling many cell types and operating the equipment needed for the experiments. Our experience in running screens allows for more consistent results and can expedite the assay development process. All experiments will be run in consultation with the referring investigator and data will be provided after each test. Clients wishing to transfer development to our facility will be charged on a per experiment basis.