Mammalian cell characterisation by non-invasive plate reader assay

Abstract

Automated and non-invasive mammalian cell analysis is currently lagging behind due to a lack of methods suitable for a variety of cell lines and applications. Here, we report the development of a high throughput non-invasive method for tracking mammalian cell growth and performance based on plate reader measurements. We show the method to be suitable for both suspension and adhesion cell lines, and we demonstrate it can be adopted when cells are grown under different environmental conditions. We establish that the method can inform on effective drug treatment to be used depending on the cell line considered, and that it can support characterisation of engineered mammalian cells over time. This work provides the scientific community with a novel approach to mammalian cell screening, also contributing to the current efforts towards high throughput and automated mammalian cell engineering.