Teranode launches first for screening software

Teranode Corporation has launched new screening automation software that claims to be the first ever solution to transform assay design into assay automation - a tool that is to feature heavily for screening laboratories with changing or emerging assay requirements.

Once incorporated in the repository, the Teranode Model Server allows management and scientists to query or mine models and screening data to accelerate analysis and reporting. SOPs and screening records are shared, reviewed, and re-analysed in "real-time."

The drag-and-drop interface of the software allows it to support screening processes in the Life Science Industry. These include, chemical and protein screening, high content screening, microarray, protein array, flow cytometry, sequencing and biomarker screening.

Today's R&D projects are driving an ever-increasing level of genetic, biological, and chemical screening activity in the Life Sciences industry. As organisations strive to expand drug pipelines and shorten drug development times, the demand to more accurately understand drug actions and biological mechanisms through advanced screening approaches are intensifying.

Teranode estimate that for larger enterprises, delays in pre-clinical and clinical drug development can result in financial losses in excess of $1 million (€829,000) per day for every day of lost drug sales. Because screening performance and data acquisition is so pivotal to project life cycles, enterprises must implement informatics that supports the dynamics and complexities of project requirements.

The Teranode Screening Automation solution consists of the Teranode Design Suite and the Teranode Model Server with screening assay models. The Teranode Design Suite allows research teams to define screening assays, attach raw data files generated from the work, automate calculations of biological properties, annotate observations, and archive completed screening activities into a central repository.

Teranode Screening Automation enables screening groups to leverage model-driven informatics to address the challenge of changing data requirements, while decreasing operating costs.

Teranode Screening Automation includes features such as the design of assay templates that include combinatorial reformatting examples, inventory interfaces, library definitions, curve- fitting, and reporting.

The software also comes equipped with an integration library - a collection of existing equipment interfaces that provides configurable data interfaces to most lab equipment.

"An informatics solution needs to allow lab personnel to focus on the science, not the database," said Edward Hyde, technical director, Centre for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania.

"Assay automation that can be changed, on demand, by laboratory users to match ever-changing data requirements enables responsiveness and continuous improvement," he added.

Teranode Screening Automation includes software and services for installation, design, and training. Pricing begins at $50,000 and is available immediately for purchase.