GSK signs up for ACLARA's eTag system

GlaxoSmithKline has secured a license to use ACLARA Biosciences' eTag assay reagent products and software in its drug discovery and development programs. The UK-headquartered drug major said that it would be using the system for a range of applications, including gene expression profiling studies.

eTag is a high-throughput assay system that can study hundreds of genes, proteins, and cell-based antigens across thousands of samples. The platform makes it possible for researchers to measure multiple aspects of a complex biological system in a single sample, including gene expression, protein expression, cell signaling and pathway activation, protein-protein interaction and cell receptor binding.

Specific molecular binding events result in the release of electrophoretically distinct eTag reporters, which are then resolved by standard capillary electrophoresis to provide data readouts directly from cell lysates.