Invasion through laminin-rich extracellular matrix (Matrigel™). A) A CyBi®-Well was used to set up an invasion assay in iuvo Microchannel 5250. B) PC3-M cells invade matrix one day after plating. C) Invasion 5 days after plating. Cells viewed with phase contrast microscopy. D) Overlay image of phalloidin (red) and DAPI (blue).

iuvo Microconduit Arrays enable the use of highly miniaturized, advanced cell models and functional assays with automated liquid handling and HCA platforms, with the goal of more accurate replication of in vivo processes in drug discovery. Instead of the "buckets" of various sizes used for cell culture in multiwell plates, iuvo plates have cell culture compartments with geometries designed specifically to support the biology and/or functions of interest.

iuvo plates comply with SBS standards, and the liquid in the microchannels can be displaced with passive pumping as often as necessary using standard automated liquid dispensing equipment. No specialized instrumentation is required to carry out assays or acquire the data. Three dimensional cell culture becomes easy to carry out, and the entire compartment is accessible to microscope-based HCA instruments as well as plate scanners. The microchannel environment reduces dilution of secreted signaling molecules, and the media can be sampled for analysis of secreted factors.