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Application Notes

High throughput cell proliferation assay with low magnification objective, utilizing high-resolution performance of Digital Sight 50M

March 2023

Screening assays using multi-well plates such as 96 well-plates are commonly performed in drug discovery research and academia, and are used for acquisition of drug candidates and genetic analysis. In recent years, screening has become essential for searching for and optimizing candidate compounds, and quality control and increasing the speed of assays have become issues.

This application note introduces quantitative evaluation by image acquisition of the entire well and morphological analysis, as an application utilizing the high pixel count that is a feature of the Digital Sight 50M (DS50M) F-mount monochrome camera, equipped with a full-size image sensor (Fig.1a). Acquiring an image of the entire well in one shot provides the following advantages: (1) cell data for the entire well can be obtained in a single shot, and (2) uneven distribution of cells within the well can be understood. With these advantages, sufficient necessary quantitative data can be obtained and the status of the well can be verified, which is effective for stable and efficient acquisition of assay data. In addition, the high pixel count of the DS50M enables single shot imaging and analysis of the entire well, which greatly improves throughput.

In this case study, in order to evaluate the quantitativity of analysis and its effectiveness in terms of imaging throughput by means of the DS50M and a low magnification lens, a nuclear counting assay was performed using a high-sensitivity camera that is widely used for fluorescence observation, as a comparison target.