Cell-Based Methods to Quantify Inflammasome Activation and Target Engagement
Learn about three methods for inflammation research:
- Homogeneous, no-wash caspase-1 inflammasome activity assay
- Novel, no-wash immunoassays for human and mouse IL-1β detection
- Live cell BRET target engagement assay for the NLRP3 inflammasome
Summary
The inflammasome, including the NLRP3 inflammasome, is implicated in a wide variety of chronic inflammatory conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, inflammatory bowel disease and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, making it a promising target for therapeutic treatment. Inflammasomes are found in cells of the innate immune system where they play a key role in the inflammatory response. Drugs to inhibit or activate the inflammasome are sought by drug discovery efforts globally.
Watch this 20-minute webinar to understand the assay performance, along with specific examples from each assay. Concordance of results from the three assays with a NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor is demonstrated.
Speaker
Martha O'Brien, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Martha O’Brien is a Senior Research Scientist in the Assay Design Group at Promega and is currently leading assay development efforts in the area of inflammation. Martha received her PhD in biology from the University of North Carolina. Prior to joining Promega, she was a postdoctoral fellow and research associate in the Anatomy and Neurobiology Department at Washington University School of Medicine investigating the genetics of neuropeptide systems in Drosophila. As a Promega R&D scientist, she turned to mammalian systems and has developed numerous products, focusing on apoptosis and protease assays, has co-authored several articles and book chapters, and is a co-inventor on several patents.