This presentation outlines new screening instrument from SphereBio, the Cyto-Mine Chroma. The new technology screens clones that produce antibodies to accelerate clonal selection. The instrument uses picodroplet technology: picolitre volume droplets which encapsulate cells and acid reagents. These picodroplets are biocompatible and keep their encapsulated cells alive during the screening process.
Cyto-Mine Chroma improves on the forerunner Cyto-Mine instrument but with additional lasers and detectors to allow users to conduct multiplex assays. Cyto-Mine Chroma is fully automated and can screen up to 40 million cells in a day, freeing up a lot of wait time for the average scientist and reducing the timelines of projects by weeks or months.
The picodroplet technology also allow for minimal reagent cost due to their tiny volume of just picolitres. This means that you only need to use a small amount of reagent to screen millions of cells, dramatically reducing experiment running costs.
Core to the instrument’s workflow is the Cyto-Cartridge, a disc-like consumable available from SphereBio. Cells are counted and added to the Cyto-Cartridge in a mixture with the acid reagents. They are then encapsulated within the picodroplets, up to 2 million of them at a time. The droplets are then pushed into a chamber, where they are incubated at the optimal time and temperature for antibody secretion. After incubation, the droplets are sorted and excited with a laser to fluoresce, which is picked up by detectors.
Then, Cyto-Mine Chroma dispenses the droplets where the user can check the fluorescent signal to make sure that the droplets have been correctly sorted by cell type. To ensure the correct type of signal is obtained and to provide monoclonality assurance for applications such as cell line development, the instrument then takes five pictures of each droplet being sorted. The user can then verify the number of cells in each droplet.
The droplets are then dispensed into microtiter plates, which can be 24-well, 96-well, or 384-well plates. It is possible to track which droplet goes into each well, and the entire workflow can take up to eight hours, depending on the incubation time required. The Cyto-Cartridge, where the workflow occurs, is biocompatible and single-use, preventing cross-contamination between experiments.
Various assays can be performed using the Cyto-Mine Chroma, including FRET assays and the ability to distinguish between diffuse and localised signals within droplets. The presentation discussed several biological assays demonstrating the instrument's capability in antibody production and cell line development, showcasing its accuracy in sorting specific cell populations.
Future assay kits are planned for antigen specificity and bispecific assays, indicating ongoing innovation in the technology.
