The ReferenceCell™ is an average image of the internal cell organization, based on the labelling of any intracellular compartment of interest.

Since each micropattern is identical, cells perform in a reproducible and consistent manner. The ReferenceCell™ is based on an innovative analysis algorithm which works with normalized cells to build density maps of organelles or intracellular protein distribution and automatically identifies significant hits from a set of conditions.

Cells are seeded onto adhesive micropatterns and left to spread. Drugs are added and cells are fixed and stained with markers of the various endomembrane compartments. Images of single cells are then captured, realigned on the pattern and signal density is processed over the stack of a few dozen images. 

We use ReferenceCell™ to identify changes in subcellular events (organelle and protein localization) induced by drugs  and thus subsequently determine drug’s MOA and potential toxicity.