Abstract
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) can differentiate into any cell type, making them promising for cell therapy applications, as well as for cell-based assays in in vitro pharmacological evaluation, including evaluating the safety and toxicity of drug candidates. However, the maintenance and differentiation of iPSC cultures requires high technical expertise. Cell-based assays involve complex processes such as long-term culture, real-time observation of live cells, and detection of many cellular events. To facilitate these processes, Astellas has developed Mahol-A-Ba, an automated drug discovery platform. It consists of Maholo, a dual-arm robot, and Screening station, an automated experiment system. Mahol-A-Ba quantifies the advanced experimental techniques required for iPSC experimentation and translates them into robot behavior; automates multi-sample processing of multiple processes; improves reproducibility by limiting human error; and saves researchers valuable time otherwise spent on tedious experiment. In addition, by incorporating AI image analysis technology, Mahol-A-Ba allows high-quality pharmacological evaluation by tracking and quantifying minute changes that were previously only evaluable with a qualitative score. Furthermore, Mahol-A-Ba can perform experiments and analyses remotely. In the future, this platform is expected to harmonize the activities of researchers, robots, and AI in a highly orchestrated manner; promote global research collaboration; and accelerate the discovery of new drug candidates.
