`Top guns` commission Select From the Automation Partnership
The Automation Partnership (TAP), manufacturers of advanced automated systems, recently announced the sale of the first seven SelecT(R) systems to four leading pharmaceutical companies including: Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly & Company.
SelecT, a flexible system to automate the culture and parallel processing of multiple cell lines, was designed in partnership with a consortium that included members from Glaxo SmithKline, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca to provide scientists with high quality, consistent cells for drug discovery applications.
According to Professor Derek Middlemiss, of GlaxoSmithKline's, "Pharmaceutical companies are all facing the challenge of how to screen compound libraries against a rapidly expanding number of drug targets in a expedient and cost-efficient manner. SelecT is a unique solution that improves productivity by providing cells at optimal growth densities and times, thereby reducing the drug discovery cycle time."