SOLICREST LABORATORY

SUSATINABILITY

Growing profitably and acting responsibly towards all stakeholders

The sustainable development of our company has been a central goal and principle for us since the foundation of Solicrest in 1870. Customer orientation, excellence, and innovation are the key elements of this. Beyond this important foundation, however, sustainability also means building on responsible, long-term oriented relationships with all stakeholders and for mutual advantage.To us, trusting and long-term profitable business relations with our customers, partners and suppliers are more important than short-term profits. The same is true for our employees: They value continued professional growth, rather than job hopping. Our investors can expect a corporate policy that focuses on sustainable profitable growth and value enhancement. And as a part of society, we are committed to treating our natural resources responsibly and being a good corporate neighbor at all our sites worldwide.

OPENNESS

Driving change and progress internally and externally

We believe that nothing is that good that it can’t be even better. This requires openness, both inside and outside the company. Many of our most innovative and successful products directly result from being open-minded and willing to learn from our customers and technology partners. We believe it will be our openness, combined with our own expertise, that paves the way to innovations that really matter and create customer value. Inside our company as well, openness is the key source of change and progress. It pays to question day-to-day routines, share knowledge and find creative, new approaches.Our goal is to further develop and foster openness – again, internally and externally – as one of our key assets to leverage our full group-wide potential.

ENJOYMENT

Working in an energetic and rewarding environment

At Solicrest Laboratory, hard work and fun go together. Our people not only work with their minds, but also put their hearts into their jobs. In return, the companies give their employees considerable freedom, as well as tasks that challenge them and let them realize their personal potential.Solicrestians enjoy working on challenging tasks, they thrive on cooperating in global teams, love to take new opportunities and then to celebrate their successes together. This positive attitude and team spirit is also shared with our customers. We value our inclusive and cheerful corporate culture as a strong source of enduring effort and superior achievement

Protect and Preserve your Precious Cells

Reduce artifacts and preserve fragile neurites. Conduct label-free neurite analysis in mono-culture or use simple, non-perturbing fluorescent labeling in co-culture with Incucyte Neurolight Orange Lentivirus. Detect apoptosis with non-perturbing, mix-and-read Incucyte® Annexin V Orange Dye. No fixing, staining, or lifting required.Figure 2. Perform label-free analysis of neurite length, branch points and cell body clusters automatically and at 96-/384-well throughput. High Definition (HD) phase images of rat cortical neurons are easily segmented using Incucyte® Neurotrack Software Module to identify neurites and cell bodies (A). PlateGraphs show kinetic data in every well, enabling rapid visualization and evaluation of treatment trends in a 384-well screening plate (B).

Figure 4. Measure time course and concentration-dependent effects on cell viability continuously and noninvasively. Incucyte® Annexin V Orange Dye is non-perturbing to cell health and morphology and yields an easily measured fluorescent signal indicative of apoptosis. Observe the kinetics of cell death by analysis of fluorescent signal in images and movies throughout your experiment (A). Analyze the time course of concentration-dependent treatment of neuronal cultures using kinetic readouts (B).

Get Answers Faster

Support drug discovery research with data suitable for pharmacological analysis. Evaluate multiple experimental conditions with easy-to-generate, highly reproducible data at microplate throughput. Spend more time investigating, and less-time troubleshooting with our turnkey solution including lab-tested reagents, live-cell protocols, and purpose-built software tools.Figure 6. Consistent, high volume data sets are rapidly generated through continuous automated image acquisition using minimal cells in 6 x 96- or 6 x 384- well plates in parallel. Time course of iCell Neuron neurite length demonstrating high protocol reproducibility in a 384 well plate over 11 days in culture – CV<15% (A). 384-well plate showing reproducible pharmacology with easily generated EC/IC50 curves (B).

Gain Dynamic Insights

Examine neurite outgrowth or disruption and cell health with automated, long-term imaging and analysis to capture both significant and subtle dynamic changes in neuronal networks.
Figure 1. Gain valuable biological insight into physiologically relevant in vitro models that more accurately represent human neurodegenerative disease. Quantification of 6-OHDA-mediated toxicity in the Dopa.4U cellular model of Parkinson’s disease (Axol Biosciences). Dopa.4U cells were infected with Incucyte® Neurolight Lentivirus and imaged every 6 hours for 12 days using a 20x objective. 6-OHDA caused a time- and concentration-dependent decrease in neurite length with an IC50 concentration of 84 µM.

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Figure 3. Analyze neurite dynamics over extended time periods within co-cultures using non-perturbing reagents. Infect neuronal cell types with Incucyte® Neurolight Orange Lentivirus to ensure neuron-specific labeling. Rat cortical neurons cultured in the presence of astrocytes were transduced and imaged over 14 days and treated with glutamate at day 10 (A). Timecourse analysis reveals concentration-dependent treatment effects (B).

Use your in vitro Model of Choice

Incucyte assays and reagents for neurite analysis and cell health are compatible with iPSC-derived or primary cells, in mono- or co-culture.Figure 5. Examine readouts of neurodegenerative disorders in your preferred primary or iPSC-derived neuronal cell type. Incucyte® Neurolight Orange Lentivirus*** can be used to selectively label neurites in co-culture for analysis of neurite length. Here, Dopa.4U, hNPC, iCell, and Peri.4U were examined.

Use kinetic, high-throughput measurements to monitor dynamic biological in different brain regions

Figure 1. Temporal monitoring of brain region astroglia revealed differences in cell growth and morphology. Cortex, Hippocampus and Cerebellum astroglia were seeded in 96-well plates at 2,000 cells/well. Proliferation and morphology was monitored over 10 days. Images show cultures at 30-40% confluence (2 days, cortical or 4 days, hippocampal and cerebellar), where ramified morphological phenotype is quantified (pink and browns masks). Time-course profile compares growth amongst brain regions and reveals cortical astrocytes have the fastest rate of growth. Glia ramification is compared overtime with cerebellum astrocytes yielding the highest ramification by 96h (68.3 ± 1.8) followed by hippocampal (50.6 ± 1.5) and cortical (12.3 ± 0.7). Maximum ramification for each well is also shown (variability plot). Data presented as Mean ± SEM (24 replicates) and images were captured at 10x magnification.

Pharmacological effect of ionomycin on cerebellar astrocytes

Figure 2. Ionomycin-induced calcium increase effects cell growth and health in cerebellar astrocytes. Cerebellum astrocytes were seeded in 96-well plates at 10,000 cells/well and treated with calcium ionophore ionomycin (0.01 – 10 µM) in media supplemented with cell health reagent Incucyte® Annexin V NIR (Sartorius; 0.5%). Proliferation and cell health were monitored over 10 days. Time-course shows the kinetic effect of ionomycin on cell growth. Concentration-response curves compare the effect of ionomycin on cell growth and health, with a concentration-dependent decrease in confluence and increase in apoptosis observed suggestive of toxic effects of ionomycin. Representative images show effects on growth (phase) and cell health (NIR) at 24 h. Data presented as Mean ± SEM (3 replicates) and images were captured at 10x magnification.

Monitor cell cycle progression, modulation and cell viability using non-perturbing reagents to untangle complex modulation

Figure 3. Okadaic Acid (OKA) induced cell cycle arrest can be distinguished from apoptosis in astrocytic cell line. T98G astrocytic cells expressing Incucyte® Cell Cycle Green|Orange lentivirus were seeded at 4,000 cells/well in a 96-well plate. Cells were treated with protein phosphatase inhibitor OKA (50 – 0.14 nM) in the presence of cell health reagent Incucyte® Annexin V NIR (0.5%; Sartorius) to enable the effects on both cell cycle arrest and cell viability to be determined. Images were acquired at 10X using the Incucyte® Cell-by-Cell analysis module to allow cells to be individually segmented, with representative phase and/or fluorescence (green, orange, NIR) phase videos shown for vehicle and OKA over 2 days post-treatment. Time-courses, showing the populations of cells in S|G2|M (green) or G1 (orange) and the population of Annexin V positive cells (teal) for vehicle or OKA, revealed OKA (5.56 nM) caused an arrest in S|G2|M within 16 h and this remained stable until approximately 36 h when the number of apoptotic cells began to increase. Concentration-response curves indicate rapid efficacy of OKA at 20 h on populations in different phases and a delayed effect on cell viability (Annexin V Positive) at 48h. Data presented as Mean ± SEM, 6 replicates.

Obtain real-time cell movement measurements with fully automated analysis to evaluate post-injury in real-time

Figure 4. Post-injury migration and pharmacological inhibition of astrocytes from different brain regions. Primary (Cortex, Hippocampus, Cerebellum) or iPSC (CDI, Fujifilm) astrocytes were seeded in Incucyte® ImagelockT96-well plates at 30,000 cells/well and precise, reproducible wounds were created with the Incucyte® Woundmaker. Images were acquired using the Incucyte® live-cell analysis System. Phase videos show migration of hippocampal cultures following injury over 3 days, with segmentation shown for the initial scratch wound (blue mask) and wound during closure (light yellow mask), and allow for morphological assessment of cells. Time-course profiles compare rate of wound closure for different brain regions with cerebellar astroglia migrating the fastest. For pharmacological studies, cortical astroglia were incubated with ionomycin (10 – 0.01 µM) prior to wounding and concentration-dependent inhibition of migration is observed (IC50 = 1.67 µM). Data presented as Mean ± SEM, 24 replicates.

Quantify glia chemotaxis in real-time with fully automated analysis

Figure 5. T98G-WT astrocyte chemotactic migration towards FBS. T98G-WT cells were plated in the top chamber of the Incuycte® ClearView 96-Well Chemotaxis plate coated with PDL (0.1 mg/mL) at a density of 1,000 cells/well. Once the cells had adhered, fetal bovine serum (FBS; 10 - 0.12%) was added to the bottom chamber as a chemoattractant. Images, and respective masks, are representative of the top and bottom side of the membrane at 48 h post-addition. Time-course and bar chart at 48h indicate a concentration-dependent increase in chemotactic migration through the pore with increasing levels of FBS (EC50 = 3%). Data presented as Mean ± SEM, 10 replicates.

Study glia supportive functions with relevant cell models, iPSC-derived or primary cells, in mono- or co-culture to evaluate astrocytic supportive functions

Figure 6. iPSC astrocytes in neuronal co-culture enhance neurite development and stabilises network activity. Human iPSC-derived neurons were seeded as a mono- or co-culture with astrocytes (25K for neurons, 10K cells/well for astrocytes; Talisman Therapeutics). Neurons were infected with Incucyte® Neurolight or Neuroburst Orange (Sartorius) to assess neurite development or monitor spontaneous neuronal activity over time, respectively. Time-courses reveal co-cultures developed greater neurite branching and outgrowth compared to mono-cultures (NL: 147 ± 2.5 vs. 72 ± 2.5 mm/mm2 , respectively at 228h). Traces represent calcium fluctuation of all active objects within the field of view. Bar graphs show quantification of active objects, correlation (connectivity), burst rate and duration at 23 days. Co-cultures yield increased active objects and display a reduced frequency of longer-lasting calcium events compared to mono-cultures, indicating network stabilisation, whilst connectivity is unaffected. Results suggest supportive functions of iPSC astrocytes within a co-culture, where neurons display enhanced morphological phenotype and develop more functionally mature networks. Mean ± SEM, 24 replicates.