INDIGO Biosciences simplifies AR research with ready-to-use kits

July 12, 2011- State College, PA Androgen Receptor research just got easier with the launch of the new INDIGO Androgen Receptor Assay kit. This ready-to-use solution allows researchers to go from freezer-to-data in 24 hours with no need to transfect cells or optimize assays. The INDIGO AR Assay Kit sets a new standard for convenience by enabling researchers to obtain data in just four easy steps: Thaw, Feed, Dose, Read.

“Androgen Receptor is an increasingly important receptor for study in pharmaceutical discovery and toxicology,” says Bruce Sherf, Chief Technology Officer of INDIGO Biosciences. “Developing a robust assay for the Androgen Receptor is problematic. INDIGO's kits now provide researchers with a sensitive, ready-to-use tool to screen test compounds for bio-activity against human AR.”
The androgenic hormones testosterone and dihydrotestosterone are ligands of the AR and are involved in male sexual development, prostate growth, musculoskeletal development, and maintenance of bone mass. The AR, similar to other nuclear receptors, exerts its effects predominantly as a ligand-activated transcription factor with small molecules acting as agonists, antagonists and selective receptor modulators (SRMs).

Androgen Receptor is known to play a role in many diseases including osteoporosis, breast cancer and perhaps most importantly in prostate cancer. The AR is also a target for endocrine disrupting environmental chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and organochlorine pesticides. Due to studies of pharmacological and environmental ligands and the importance of AR in normal physiological process, this receptor remains one of the most studied members of the nuclear receptor family of genes.

The INDIGO AR Assay Kits are robust, easy-to-use screening solutions for researchers in drug discovery and development as well as toxicology studies. These highly reliable kits use stable-glow luciferase chemistry to produce results with excellent Z’ scores and high signal-to-noise ratios. INDIGO Biosciences’ proprietary cryopreservation process, CryoMite, yields greater than 95% cell viability post-thaw and enables INDIGO Nuclear Receptor Assay Kits to be shipped anywhere in the world, making them ready to use when the researcher is ready to test.