https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

CSIR high-throughput screening system to accelerate local malaria research

21st October 2016

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Biosciences unit is using an automated robotic liquid handling system to dramatically increase the throughput of its screening for viable medical compounds as part of its research into malaria in its human-hosted stages.

The Janus machine, manufactured by medical equipment firm Perkin Elmer, can place chemical assays in 1536 separate 20 μℓ wells in one wellplate and can manage several of these plates – all within one two-hour cycle.

The CSIR team is currently validating the machine, using an intermediate 384 wellplate format. The machine is currently set up for the inline addition of fluorescent dyes and can perform the centrifugation and spectrophotometric reading of the samples automatically.

The increased throughput means that the machine helps the team to screen the equivalent of about a year’s manual screening work in a single week, says CSIR Biosciences Pioneering Health Sciences senior researcher Dr Jenny-Lee Panayides.

The research conducted by the CSIR is part of a large collaborative malaria research project involving more than 50 scientists across several South African universities and research institutions. The CSIR Biosciences team and its partners focus on the gametocyte stage of the parasite’s life cycle, which is the sexual stage of the parasite when it is present in a human host.

“In the long term, the work of the newly formed CSIR high-throughput screening group aims to generate a wide variety of chemical assay techniques to support local drug discovery. We are validating the machines and techniques to improve and accelerate screening to identify potentially viable medical compounds. Enabling researchers to identify promising compounds more quickly will improve the pipeline of promising research for drug discovery.

“For malaria research specifically, there is the possibility of blocking transmission either from the human host to the mosquito host or vice versa, and to eradicate the disease. While this is a very exciting prospect, our work will also bolster the broader South African chemical research community to accelerate their validation of various compounds, including of the natural compounds found in Southern Africa’s unique range of flora.”

The high-throughput robotic system is, however, expensive and requires significant skills in diverse disciplines to be set up, such as biochemistry, pharmacology, bioinformatics and programming. It also benefits from medical chemistry knowledge. The project has received support and funding from the South African Medical Research Council Strategic Health Innovation Partnerships and the Medicines for Malaria Venture, says Panayides.

Further, the machine and the processes generate a very large amount of data, with Panayides and her colleagues adopting big data techniques and analytics systems to enable scientists to effectively use the data from high-throughput screening machines.

The techniques can be applied in the pharmaceuticals industry, and can add revenue streams for the CSIR to provide screening services for external collaborators or commercial enterprises.

“The idea is that, in future, we will be able to translate many of the assays for different medical and commercial applications, for example, the cosmetics industry.”

The CSIR Biosciences high-throughput group is also investigating chemical assay techniques involving microarrays of about 4 μℓ each that are printed onto plates and can be automatically imaged in series by machines for the visual investigation of cellular effects. This is a technique used for small interfering ribonucleic acid chemical studies, she concludes.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

Multotec
Multotec

Multotec, recognised industry leaders in metallurgy and process engineering help mining houses across the world process minerals more efficiently,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Immersive Technologies
Immersive Technologies

Immersive Technologies is the world's largest, proven and tested supplier of simulator training solutions to the global resources industry.

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.087 0.138s - 164pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now