Fall 2009

Join us for the Pig-a Workshop at this year's EMS Meeting

Litron, along with co-sponsors sanofi-aventis, and ILSI-HESI, will be hosting a workshop at the start of this year's Environmental Mutagen Society meeting in St. Louis. Speakers include S. Dertinger (Litron), R. Heflich (FDA/NCTR), R. Ware (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital), D. Miura (TEIJIN Pharma), R. Fiedler (Pfizer), J. Kim (ILSI-HESI), Vasily Dobrovolsky (FDA/NCTR), and V. Walker (BioMosaics). [more info]

New In Vitro MicroFlow^® Kits

Based on recommendations from users, three new sizes of In Vitro MicroFlow kits will be offered beginning in January 2010. These kits will provide the necessary reagents to perform analysis of 50, 200, and 400 samples. The current 100- and 500-sample prototype kits will be discontinued at that time.
 

Litron Spearheads Inter-Laboratory Trials
In Vitro MicroFlow^® and Pig-a Mutation Assays

Working with leading laboratories throughout the world, Litron scientists are directing two significant trials. These NIH-funded studies are focused on advancing the performance of two genotoxicity assays: the in vitro micronucleus assay and the Pig-a mutation assay.
In Vitro Micronucleus Trial
Presently, the scoring of in vitro micronuclei is most efficiently accomplished by flow cytometry using In Vitro MicroFlow kits. This trial is designed to further increase the efficiency and throughput of the assay while also reducing the amount of test article required. These goals are being addressed using a 96-well plate format along with high throughput auto-samplers for the flow cytometer.

International collaborators are participating in this effort, and are enthusiastic about the miniaturized assay's potential.

Pig-a Mutation Trial
GPI anchor-deficiency serves as a phenotypic marker of Pig-a gene mutation. Using an erythrocyte-based method, these investigations are designed to 1) demonstrate the transferability between labs, 2) assess the sensitivity of the endpoint to several known mutagens and 3) test the utility of both short-term and long-term dosing schedules.

To date, three of the ten participating laboratories have completed the qualification phase and preliminary results show high assay portability.

According to Ron Fiedler, Pfizer, "The reproducibility of the inter-laboratory ENU data is nothing less than remarkable. It would be hard to imagine a higher level of data correlation even if testing was within a single laboratory."

Promising data associated with Pig-a will be presented at this year's EMS meeting (see below). To receive updates about the status of this Pig-a trial and other developments, join "The PIG" (Pig-a Interest Group), by contacting Dr. Stephen Dertinger.