Neurosciences

The global prevalence of various neurological disorders is continuously increasing. One of the underlying reasons may be the aging of societies and its associated health consequences such as neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases, pain and stroke-related deficiencies. Anxiety and stress-related complications may be personally and socially damaging, and are also becoming a major therapeutic challenge.

To help our biotech and pharma partners face this challenge, our team of dedicated and experienced scientists is there to help in the development of novel therapeutic agents that will help in prevention or treatment of these disorders. Our teams of biochemists and in vitro biologists haves a broad expertise in working with both small-molecular weight NCEs, as well as peptide and protein drugs. We have supported our clients at all preclinical stages of drug development process.

We can assist with development and execution of multiple assays, depending on MoA and characteristics of the therapeutic agent under development. Selvita’s assets that are relevant to neuroscience research include (but are not limited to):

• • A collection of cellular models relevant to the field, including iPSC-differentiated neuronal cells and microglia

• • Techniques of gene expression modulation and genetic modification, including siRNA, shRNA and genomic knock-out/knock-in techniques

• • Multiple gene and protein expression level analysis tools (qPCR, ELISA, Luminex, FACS, luminescent reporters)

• • Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses (NGS, mass spectrometry)

• • Multiple viability assays (MTT, CellTiter Glo, LDH) relevant to neurodegenerative diseases and excitotoxicity (NMDA, glutamate)

• • Functional assays for GPCR activation and inhibition

    • • multiplexable
    • • cAMP, DAG, PIP₂
    • • β-arrestin assays for Angiotensin II (AT1R), Vasopressin (V2R), GLP-1, Mu Opioid (OPRM1), and beta2-adrenergic (B2AR) receptors

• • Multiple flexible and multiparametric assays based on our High Content Screening imaging platform, including

    • • calcium flux assays (Fluo-4, GCaMP reporters)
    • • membrane potential measurements (FluoVolt)
    • • neuroinflammation-related NF-κB nuclear translocation
    • • Viability/toxicity/apoptosis
    • • Neurogenesis (BrdU/EdU)

• • Biophysical methods useful in protein aggregation studies (Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease)

• In collaboration with external partners we can provide all the major functional and behavioral in vivo tests relevant to the neurosciences