Dr. James Rusling is a finalist in the Transform Tox Testing Challenge. The challenge aims to “find new ways to incorporate physiological levels of chemical metabolism into HTS assays…Adding metabolic competence to HTS assays will help researchers more accurately assess chemical effects and better protect human health.”

The Rusling Group proposes “to use magnetic beads coated with metabolic enzyme sources including microsomes and supersomes containing cyt P450s, bioconjugation enzymes and other human enzyme sources. The enzyme-coated beads react with solutions of test chemicals in 96-well filter plates, and vacuum filtration transfers the metabolite product into a new 96-well plate ready for Tox Test assays.”