The Akura™ Twin platform has been designed to study organ-organ interactions. With 192 conditions on a single plate, the platform gives access to high-throughput spheroid crosstalk studies. The wells display a proprietary design to enable improved medium exchange while avoiding spheroid loss. Long-term maintenance of spheroids and a wide range of readouts are made possible to ensure high-quality experiments. This Starter Package includes everything needed to get started with the Akura™ Twin technology.
General
The Akura™ Twin plate follow the format of a 384-well Akura™ plate except that two adjacent wells are connected via a micofluidic channel. Each well can contain one spheroid/organoid and provide a 1 mm diameter window to easily spot and observe the tissues. The wells also display the SureXchange ledge technology from InSphero allowing almost complete (> 90%) medium exchange and reducing drastically spheroid loss. Only a minimal residual volume of 8-10 µL is left after medium retrieval, avoiding dilution of metabolites and molecules of interest contained in the supernatant and enhancing dosing precision. The surface is coated to be cell-repellent, preventing cellular adhesion and maintaining spheroid strucutre for long-term culture.
Each plate hence displays 192 Twin units allowing co-culture of different tissues. Among those units, some are perpendicular to other, and cosntitue "no-flow" conditions to be used as controls during experiments to easily compare dynamic vs static models.
This Akura™ Twin platform allows high-throughput study of spheroid-spheroid cross-talk but also interaction of spheroids with additional circulating cells like immune cells. Those cells, as well as, nutrients or signaling molecules, can circulate from one spheroid to the other through the 4.5 mm microfluidic channel enabling active tissue-tissue cross-talk and cell migration. A gravity-based flow between the two wells of a Twin unit is established thanks to the Akura™ Flow Programmable All-in-One Tilter.
While being very innovative, this platform follow the ANSI/SLAS standard format for easy integration in automated instruments and existing laboratory equipment. It is thus compatible with a wide range of analytic methods. Dosing of molecules can be done at any time via supernatant sampling and spheroids can easily be retrieved from the plate for further analysis. The Akura™ Twin plate is composed of a black-walled Polystyrene body bonded to a transparent continuous membrane. The black-walled wells help to eliminate fluorescent crosstalk between wells. In the Akura™ Twin Microplate, the membrane is made of COP and is 0.188 mm thick, allowing high-content imaging.
The Akura™ Twin platform allows the study of tissue-tissue interactions with the addition of immune competence to the 3D model via the circulation of immune cells in between the two spheroids.
The Starter Kit also contains Akura™ 96 Microplates for the formation of spheroids preceding their transfer and study in the Twin Microplate.
Content
5x Akura™ Twin plates
20x Akura™ 96 plates
Akura™ Tilting Stand
Akura™ Flow Programmable All-in-One Tilter
Akura™ Organ-on-Chip e-Introfuction (1 hour)
Akura™ Organ-on-Chip Training & Support (online, 2x 1h before and after first use)
Akura™ Organ-on-Chip Technology Access Package (valid 6 months) including:
- Discounted 5x Akura™ Flow Twin
- Voucher for InSphero products (2000 EUR/USD)
Specifications
The Akura™ Twin Microplate meets the SLAS/ANSI standards with alphanumeric labeling of 384 wells arranged in 16 rows and 24 columns.
| Plate length |
127.76 mm |
| Plate width |
85.48 mm |
| Height of plate |
15.15 mm |
| Height of well |
11.93 mm |
| Skirt height |
3.118 mm |
| Diameter well bottom |
1 mm |
| A1 well center to top offset |
8.99 mm |
| A1 well center to side offset |
12.13 mm |
| A1 cavity center to top offset |
9.89 mm |
| A1 cavity center to side offset |
12.13 mm |
| Well center to cavity center offset |
0.90 mm |
| Working volume |
40-50 µL |
| Well-to-well distance |
4.5 mm |
| SureXchange tip position |
0.7 mm horizontal offset, 9.86 mm in z-height
|
| Thickness well bottom |
0.188 mm |
| Bottom membrane material |
COP (Cyclo-olefin-polymer)
|
| ULA coating |
Hydrophylic, neutrally charged and ensurin long-term maintenance (> 4 weeks) of 3D cell cultures
|
The technical specifications of the Akura™ 96 Microplates can be found on their respective product page or in the documentation section below.
Documentation
Akura™ Twin Microplates
? Akura Twin Microplate - Product Manual
? Akura Twin Microplate - Technical specification
Akura™ 96 Microplates
? Akura 96 Microplate - Product Manual
? Akura 96 Microplate - Quick Start Guide
? Akura Spheroid Aggregation Protocol
? Akura 96 Microplate - Technical specification
