Director

Min H. Kang, PharmD

Co-investigator

C Patrick Reynolds, MD PhD
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About

The PPTP In Vitro laboratory is located at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine Cancer Center and is the cell culture (in vitro) portion of the NCI PPTP.

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Testing

The lab tests drugs on a panel of cell lines includes neuroblastomas, rhabomyosarcomas, lymphomas, ALL, AML, ESFT, and brain tumor cell lines).

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Laboratory Funding

The NCI PPTP laboratory is funded by an NCI PPTP Grant.

The NCI PPTP In vitro Laboratory

PPTP In vitro Laboratory

Dr. Kang's laboratory conducts the in vitro preclinical testing for the PPTP.

The assay employed is DIMSCAN, a fluorescence-based multi-well assay with a dynamic range of 4 logs of cell kill.

Equipment

The in vitro testing lab is equipped with:

  • 3 biological safety cabinets
  • a robot pipettor
  • 4 incubators (O2 control capable)
  • a DIMSCAN
  • centrifuges
  • -80° and 4° GLP storage
  • and access to the Childhood Cancer Repository, powered by Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.

Lab Layout

Lab Layout Click to download PDF map of lab layout.

Methods employed

The primary cytotoxicity assay for the lab is the DIMSCAN 96 well assay. DIMSCAN employs fluorescein diacetate (FDA) to identify viable cells, with quenching of fluorescence by eosin Y, and viable cells quantified using a DIMSCAN digital image microscopy system.

The DIMSCAN assay has a 4 log dynamic range when testing solid tumor and leukemia cell lines. All cell lines used are human, have been tested and shown to be free of mycoplasma, and have been demonstrated to be unique using short tandem repeats.