Understanding the inherent characteristics of cells and their architecture through the selective and differential staining, allows our team to look at cells and discern variations due to disease, drug exposure, and effects of treatment.
Via Cell Painting, it is possible to selectively “paint” distinct cellular structures and areas with fluorescent stains. At the cellular level this allows for the visualization of varying phenotypic expressions of cells in a broad range of forms. By painting treated and untreated groups, our team can contrast the states of cells before and after drug exposure to glean insights into performance and effectiveness of client compounds. Our team can observe changes in different areas simultaneously and as well as track multiple pathways in parallel by using non-overlapping stains that target different cellular compartments.
Cell painting needs to be combined with high resolution imaging to fully actualize its potential. Using the Molecular Devices ImageXpress high content confocal imager, it is possible to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively individual cells and cell populations. Statistical analysis of results can help develop mechanical explanations as to how a particular drug is operating and affecting samples. These insights provide a comprehensive analysis to our clients.
The idea at Visikol is to help the drug discovery process to “fail faster”. By being able to visualize tangible changes at the cellular level, researchers can more quickly discern whether a drug is performing effectively or not.
If you are interested in utilizing this cell painting approach for your drug discovery projects, please reach out to our team to discuss your project. We are always interested to work together with our clients to develop customized drug discovery solutions to answer your research question.
A549 cells treated with DMSO (left) and a small molecule anti-proliferative compound (right). Cells are treated with 100µM of the anti-proliferative compound for 1hour. The anti-proliferative compound promotes tubulin assembly, producing aggregates. Cells are stained with phalloidin(green), Mito tracker (red) and Hoechst33342 (blue) dyes. Yellow arrows indicate the aggregates of actin filaments.
A549 cells treated with DMSO (left) and an anti-proliferative compound (right). Cells are treated with 100µM of the anti-proliferative compound for 1hour. The anti-proliferative compound promotes tubulin assembly, producing aggregates. Cells are stained with phalloidin(green), Mito tracker (red) and Hoechst33342 (blue) dyes. Yellow arrows indicate the aggregates of actin filaments.