Pharmaceutical Testing and Development

Stem Cell Assays

Mammosphere Assay

StemMed has experience in performing in vitro, sphere-forming assays for the assessment of stem cell activity and self renewal potential using our PDX Models.  These assays are performed on tumor tissue digested to single cells and plated in suspension media.  This assay can performed using treated tumor tissue to determine if the drug of interest was able to target cancer stem cells.

Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry is one of the most commonly used platforms to determine the presence and quantity of cancer stem cells in a tumor sample.  StemMed has access to state of the art flow cytometers and flow sorters with the capability to perform complex multi-color assays.  We have established protocols for the detection of CD44+/24- cells and ALDH+ cells, both of which are putative markers for breast cancer stem cells.  Custom assays for a particular marker of interest can also be designed.