overview

DNA microarrays and proteomic methods made it possible to assay thousands of genes or proteins in a cell at once.

Phenotype MicroArray™ technology is the next step in characterization, making it possible to measure thousands of cellular phenotypes in a single experiment. Through comprehensive and precise quantitation of phenotypes, researchers can obtain an unbiased perspective of the effect on cells of genetic differences, environmental changes, and exposure to drugs or chemicals.

Correlate functional phenotypes with genotypes
Determine a cell strain’s metabolic and chemical sensitivity properties
Elucidate drug susceptibility
Optimize cell lines and bioprocess culture conditions
Characterize cellular phenotypes for taxonomic or epidemiological studies

How it Works

Phenotype MicroArrays are preconfigured 96-well plates containing different classes of chemical compounds. After inoculation with a standardized cell suspension, they are designed to test for the functional presence or absence of thousands of phenotypes in a single experiment.

There are 10 panels designed to interrogate metabolic pathways along with ionic, osmotic and pH effects, and 10 panels to assess the sensitivity to various antimicrobials with different mechanisms of action.

Technology

How Phenotype MicroArray Technology Works

Phenotype MicroArrays can be used in two ways. You can monitor cellular respiration by utilizing Biolog’s patented redox dye technology, which amplifies the signal from NADH production. You can also use the MicroArrays to monitor growth without the redox dye present.

Respiration and growth can be simultaneously monitored on Odin, with and without the redox dye.

An example of how we compare phenotypes between two cell lines is depicted here. Cell line 1 (blue) and cell line 2 (yellow) are grown simultaneously under the same conditions. Our software will overlay the two respiration or growth curves to detect differences. The overlay area is green, allowing a qualitative view of the phenotypic differences between the cell lines.