A new analysis capability to improve assessment of cardiac liability in high throughput electrophysiology

Automated patch clamp screens generate highly valuable information for drug research programs. Therefore AstraZeneca has implemented the Nanion SyncroPatch 384PE electrophysiology platform, capturing full kinetics of channel response at higher throughput for hERG and other key cardiac ion channels. AstraZeneca and Genedata then developed a processing and analysis pipeline for this complex data, reading binary raw data directly from the instrument into Genedata Screener, then assigning and integrating the sweep recordings and finally subjecting them to scientists’ review. Additional methods to normalize the cumulative curve recordings and to automatically detect “slow onset” compounds were developed. This investment in a next-generation automated electrophysiology platform and an appropriate automated data processing pipeline is resulting in more predictive and affordable safety screens at high scalability and rapid turnover for discovery projects across AstraZeneca.