Bioanalytical services

We aim to provide a simple and cost effective analytical service for companies without their own analytical service or where the in-house resource lacks sufficient capacity or techniques.

In addition to the standard Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion (ADME) and pharmacokinetic assay support we will also routinely analyse in-vitro samples generated by our clients own in-house biological assays. This service is used for assays such as:

• Cellular uptake
• Tissue penetration
• Stability assays

We offer LC-MS as well as a range of other chromatographic and immunoassay techniques.

• Easy access, fast response for small projects
• Flexible protocols to match your experimental questions
• Simple and transparent pricing with no hidden extra costs
• Routine analytical service for client generated samples from biological screening assays

Other services we can provide:

Tissue analysis includes small charge for homogenisation, if required.

Our standard form of reporting is “letter”, i.e. a table, graph and if required basic PK parameters. We can provide a custom format if required. The sample charge covers our basic service (our standard method development, sample analysis, reporting and basic PK), which we find is what most clients need. We can also carry out enzyme immunoassay, which will be priced separately depending on the kits used.

Clients also send us their own in-house prepared samples for analysis, the cost of which will be dependent on the format required. Examples of these are in-house biological assays to measure cellular uptake or conversion of pro-drugs in a cellular model. We also carry out analysis on zebrafish embryos for tox. or pharmacological studies.

For in vitro metabolic stability experiments we do not use automation, and this allows for very flexible incubation protocols. Examples are the inclusion of a very quick time point such as 1 minute or avoiding the common pre-incubation step if non-NADPH dependant metabolism is present. The heated tube block we use allows for 8 compounds with 8 unique sample points plus controls. Permeability testing using the BD Biosciences pre-coated PAMPA plates is another cost-effective in vitro technique. We can carry out cell-based protocols if the cells are available pre-plated.

For plasma protein binding we are getting good results with the Thermo Scientific RED units. These are a good balance between ease of use, throughput and cost. They are also useful for competitive binding studies with tissue homogenates.

Solubility testing can be carried out at high concentrations using HPLC-UV or at lower concentrations via LC-MS. The format of the experiment can be adapted for specific needs. We have also carried out RBC uptake experiments.

If you need a quotation for a specific protocol, we would be happy to provide one.