CYTOOplates brings robustness, sensitivity and powerful quantification to cell-based assays and screening

Grenoble, France and Framingham, Massachusetts, November 17, 2010 – CYTOO Cell Architects, a developer and marketer of innovative enabling technologies and products for High Content cell Analysis (HCA), today announced the commercial release of CYTOOplates™ 96.

This represents the first in a series of products and services integral to CYTOO’s mission of bringing robustness, sensitivity and powerful quantification to cell-based assays and screening. CYTOOplates are ideal for pharma, biotech and academic screening center customers employing high content cell-based assays for research, drug safety, and drug screening applications. By restoring spatial information through the exquisite control of cell adhesions, CYTOO’s adhesive micropattern technology normalizes cell phenotypes. Cell-to-cell variability is reduced and fewer cells are required to detect significant differences between conditions. The ability to decipher a protein re-distribution upon a drug treatment that was previously undetectable in conventional cell culture conditions, while obtaining significant results by analyzing only 12 to 20 cells compared to the hundreds or thousands usually needed was reported in a study earlier this year by an Institut Curie team.

“Launching the high throughput format of our adhesive micropattern technology is a strategic step forward for CYTOO to reach our industrial markets in drug discovery and toxicology,” said Dr. Alexandra Fuchs, founder and COO. “Our current palette in the CYTOOplate format covers over 100 references to fit most cell lines and applications. Our custom services are also available for technology evaluation and new assay development which puts us in position to address the needs of all our High Content Screening customers.”

CYTOOplates are glass bottom, black frame microplates presenting thousands of adhesive micropatterns per well, compatible with existing HCS equipment and automated microscopes. The range will rapidly be extended to include the 384-well format. CYTOOplates complement CYTOO’s initial CYTOOchips™ offer of adhesive micropattern technology in a glass coverslip format. CYTOOchips have already been adopted by hundreds of researchers in private laboratories, leading research centers and in a growing number of pharma and biotech companies around the world.

The Company believes that for those involved in drug discovery, employing its technology will alleviate many of the current bottlenecks in HCS and lead to more hits and more meaningful data in cell-based screening, while enabling biologists to detect effects at much lower doses through analysis of significantly fewer cells per condition. This will ultimately translate into robust inter-platform standardization, better leads, more predictive toxicology, and higher productivity.