Cardio
Cardiosafety Screening with the Vala Platform
Vala offers cardiosafety (cardiomyopathy and proarrhythmia) screening in vitro using human hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Using our KIC®/CyteSeer® platform, we are able to produce simultaneous readouts of action potentials, calcium transients and contractility in the same assay. This powerful combination promises a single screen that does what today requires multiple in vitro cardiosafety assays.
Cardiomyocyte excitation-contraction coupling: Multiple ion channels create the action potential, followed by Ca++, the messenger mediating contraction.
KIC™ records videos of Ca++ in paced or unpaced cardiomyocytes using a fluorescent indicator (e.g., Fluo-4) well-by-well in 96- or 384-well high throughput formats.
Single cell analyses of fluorescent videos (Kinetic Image Cytometry™) produce a Ca++ transient for each cell, with 200-400 cells analyzed at each dose (field).
Proven Predictivity of Cardiosafety
Leading pharmaceutical companies have used Vala’s KIC/CyteSeer assays to inform cardiotoxity decision-making across multiple disease areas. Vala screening data has proven highly predictive in determining which compounds should move forward during lead series development.
High Throughput, Big Data Assessment of Complex Arrhythmia Waveforms
Other technology platforms currently used by the industry for in vitro cardiosafety assessment of contractility and action potentials in hiPSC-cardiomyocytes cannot detect the full complexity of arrhythmia waveforms exhibited by ex vivo models. Meanwhile, ex vivo models are laborious and can be performed at only relatively low throughputs. Only Vala’s single-cell big data assessments can produce the multi-channel data needed to judge cardiosafety. This process is limited today only by the manual nature of the data analysis performed by the Vala team.
Expanding Capacity and Understanding with Artificial Intelligence
Early studies utilizing Vala’s ValaDATE™ AI platform have demonstrated the ability to automate the identification and analysis of more complex arrhythmia patterns with 95% accuracy. As this capability expands, Vala hopes to provide further insights into the underlying mechanisms of cardiotoxicity.
3 Channels — Simultaneously
KIC® is the only system that can record and analyze three channels of cellular activity (action potential, calcium and contractility) simultaneously.
Optical Electrophysiology
KIC® is the first platform able to perform true high throughput, automated optical electrophysiology studies, such as drug screening. Such studies are typically followed by manual patch clamp for additional insight before IND filing.
Interested in Learning More?
Please use this form to email Vala, or call today at (888) 742-VALA (8252).