InSphero to Offer Proprietary Microplates Engineered to Accelerate Development of Spheroid and Organoid Cultures
Akura™ 96- and 384-well spheroid and organoid microplates and Akura™ Plus hanging-drop plates are now available directly via the company’s online store
Schlieren, Switzerland – August 24, 2021 - InSphero AG, the pioneer of 3D cell-based assay technology, today announced that the company is making their proprietary, patented 96- and 384-microwell plates available to researchers, enabling them to access the same plate technology used in the company’s flagship, assay-ready 3D InSight™ Human Liver Microtissues. The plates, engineered specifically for 3D cultures of spheroids and organoids, are available via InSphero’s online R&D Solutions Store.
Akura™ plates simplify the development and handling of spheroids and organoids and facilitate the integration of 3D models into cell-based assay workflows, providing researchers with important advantages for their workflows:
- The plates have the unique SureXchange™ feature to prevent unintended spheroid and organoid aspiration during near-complete medium exchange required in many applications and proved to be a key enabler for robust lab automation and screening programs.
- A highly stable, non-adherent surface coating preserves spheroid/organoid morphology and functionality in long-term cultures.
- The plate design allows enhanced imaging speed, resolution, and improved high-content image quality.
To complement the ultra-low attachment (ULA) Akura™ Spheroid Microplates, the Akura™ Plus hanging-drop plates are engineered to enable gravity-assisted formation of uniform spheroids while completely preventing surface interactions of the cells. This approach is suitable for many cell types which don’t normally form spheroids on ULA surfaces. Transfer of formed spheroids into Akura™ 96 Spheroid Microplates is possible in a single step.
“We designed our Akura™ plates to address the shortcomings of conventional spheroid and organoid plates,” said Wolfgang Moritz, PhD, InSphero Co-founder. “Over 10 years of development time in cooperation with cell culture experts has resulted in a microplate design with superior functionality, saving time and resources.”
In addition to the microplates, the online store includes the company’s assay-ready solution for liver applications. InSight™ Human Liver Microtissues (multi-donor hepatocytes in co-culture with Kupffer cells and liver endothelial cells) are recognized as the industry 3D gold standard for compound toxicity screening and drug risk assessment of DILI. These assay-ready microtissues are conveniently shipped to research labs in the US, Europe, and Canada.
“A critical part of our mission at InSphero is to ensure researchers have convenient access to industry-leading products for 3D cell culture to accelerate their innovative work,” said InSphero CEO and Co-founder Jan Lichtenberg, PhD. “Opening our unique portfolio of 3D cell-culture tools through our online store expands the reach of these transformative technologies and contributes to adopting more physiologically relevant models for disease research and drug discovery.”
