Bio-Logic to distribute Hinds CD spectroscopy system for high-throughput screening
Photoelastic modulator (PEM) and PEM-based instrumentation supplier Hinds Instruments (Hillsboro, OR) and Bio-Logic Science Instruments (Seyssinet, France) have entered into an exclusive marketing and sales distribution agreement covering Hinds' CD Microplate Reader product. The multi-year agreement combines Hinds' polarization, chiral technology, and systems development capabilities with Bio-Logic's global distribution reach in the circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and rapid kinetics fields.
Hinds scientists and engineers developed the CD Microplate Reader in response to a broad market demand for a CD spectroscopy system capable of reading CD directly from standard lab micro-well plates. The system provides high-throughput screening for chiral pharmaceuticals.
"The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing a change in requirements for drugs that exhibit chirality," explains Linda Hirschy, Hinds' marketing manager. "Chirality is a property of many organic molecules that exist in at least two forms that are mirror images (enantiomers) of each other. Drug interactions for the two enantiomers in biological systems can be thought of as a left and right hand both trying to fit into a left glove. The left hand will be much more successful. In this way, usually only one of the two chiral enantiomers of a drug is therapeutically active. The other may be ineffective or even harmful."
In nature, only the active one of the enantiomers is produced, but in a laboratory or chemical plant it is likely that a mixture of the two will form. As more is understood about the importance of the chiral properties of drugs, the FDA and other agencies have increasingly required that drug companies fully separate, characterize, and control the enantiomers they sell. But differences between the two enantiomers are chemically subtle, so separation and characterization are difficult. This has led to a requirement for more analytical methods that can differentiate between enantiomers and help pharmaceutical companies to provide quality control.
The CD Microplate Reader can rapidly read the enantiomeric composition of 96 reaction products in a standard laboratory micro-well plate. It can measure the enantiomeric excess of 96 reaction products in less than 2 minutes.
Bio-Logic will be the sole distributor for the CD Microplate Reader worldwide.
For more information, please visit www.hindsinstruments.com and www.bio-logic.net.
BioOptics World Editors
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