Molecular Devices Corporation has launched two new assay kits using its proprietary IMAP technology and one new kit in the proprietary CatchPoint format. The IMAP kits -- Abl and IKKbeta Assay Kits -- all incorporate enzymes from Upstate Biotechnology, a leader in signal transduction products. Abl is a tyrosine kinase proto-oncogene involved in cell differentiation, division, and adhesion and is the target for the drug Gleevec. IKKbeta is a serine/threonine kinase involved in inflammation pathways. The CatchPoint cAMP 96-well Assay Kit continues our line of CatchPoint products that addresses both the High Throughput Screening (HTS) market as well as the basic research market.

Molecular Devices' IMAP technology is rapidly becoming the established assay format for kinase and phosphatase activity because it does not rely on radioactivity or antibodies. These new assay kits further extend the technology platform in HTS with the same ease of miniaturization and low cost-per-well. Molecular Devices now offers nineteen specific IMAP kits as examples of the IMAP platform's capability. Additionally, uncommon or proprietary enzymes are simple to substitute into the IMAP platform using the Screening Express or IMAP Purchase Plan and our growing list of pre-validated substrates. The CatchPoint 96-well cAMP Assay Kit is the fifth product in a family that is preformatted in 96- or 384-well plates.

"Phosphatases and kinases are screened at all major pharmaceutical companies. The tyrosine kinase, Abl, and the serine/threonine kinase, IKKbeta, further demonstrate the utility of the IMAP technology platform across a broad spectrum of kinase families," stated Stephen Oldfield and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Molecular Devices. "While IMAP provides a fluorescence polarization signal, CatchPoint modulates fluorescence intensity. These diverse fluorescent readout modes leverage Molecular Devices' significant installed base of Analyst and Gemini microplate readers, providing solutions for thousands of researchers at all stages in the drug development pipeline."