CytoTronics, a pioneer of semiconductor-based platforms for discovery in cell biology, launched their novel Cardiac application the next key offering in its Pixel application portfolio. The first-of-its-kind, multi-modal application lets drug discovery scientists focused on cardiovascular disease and cardiotoxicology measure the electrical activity, contractility and structure of cardiomyocytes in a single assay at scale in 96-and 384-well plates.
Cardiovascular research typically requires the use of multiple devices to assess contractility (mechanical beating), electrical activity, cell morphology and viability. Needing multiple assays to generate separate sets of data makes findings difficult to correlate and reproduce. Because Pixel measures these simultaneously, pairing cardiac measurements with electrical imaging to capture changes in cell health and morphology, researchers can clearly correlate all the data in real time to determine how changes in heart tissue affect how a heart beats.
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With the FDA announcing plans to phase out animal testing requirements for drug development, Pixel’s Cardiac application offers a timely and powerful alternative. For investigators in cardiotoxicology, Pixel enables real-time monitoring of both acute and chronic responses to compounds—using the same human cardiomyocytes across multiple days or weeks. This in vitro approach allows scientists to detect cardiotoxicity earlier in the discovery process, reduce dependence on costly animal studies and advance safer drug candidates with greater confidence. Pixel also streamlines workflows by consolidating multiple cardiotoxicity assays into a single, multiplexed experiment, providing richer insights and minimizing variability-all from the same plate of cells.
“Cardiovascular disease researchers face multiple efficiency and data quality challenges that slow progress on getting life-saving treatments to market,” noted Shalaka Chitale, Ph.D., Head of Biology and Data Science at CytoTronics. “Pixel simplifies and streamlines their processes, enhances quality of results and accelerates the timeline to actionable insights. Through our early collaborations, we’re only just discovering the positive impact Pixel may have on drug discovery pipelines with its capability for in vitro cardiotoxicity testing in earlier phases of development.”
SOURCE: Businesswire