Cell-based toxicity assays using high throughput and high content screening

• Grant number: 12/05998-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: July 15, 2012
• End date: October 14, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Sandra Martha Gomes Dias
• Grantee: Kaliandra de Almeida Gonçalves
• Supervisor: Françoise Halley
• Host Institution: Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: European ScreeningPort, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 11/06654-7 - Screening of natural extracts for glycolytic and glutaminolytic inhibitory properties as a platform for searching new anti-tumours compounds, BP.PD

Abstract

Tumor cells are exposed to multiple nutrients simultaneously, but it is the intensive consumption of glucose and glutamine, the most abundant amino acid in blood plasma, one of the hallmarks of tumor transformation. The uptake and metabolism of glucose with significant secretion of lactate even in the presence of oxygen, known as aerobic glycolysis or Warburg effect, as well as increased levels of glutaminolysis in cancer cells correlates with their high energy demands and biosynthetic. The tumor targeting proteins - inhibitors - of glycolytic and glutaminolytic pathways has opened new perspectives for cancer treatment. Furthermore the promise of efficiency and range action is based on an element common to transformed cells: the reprogramming of metabolism for biosynthetic activity. The goals of this project are to develop High Content Analysis to understand the cytotoxic inhibitors effect. Different tumor cell lines will be evaluated by High Content Analysis (HCA) to characterize the effect of anti-glutaminolytic compound on tumor cells. Specifically, it will work with cytotoxicity assays, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Importantly, this stage will allow contact with a great platform for High Throughput Screening/High Content Screening of Europe, where it is possible to learn how to handling effective large volume of data well-proportioned by this technique. (AU)