Patent ID: 7709258

Claim:
A high-throughput assay method for rapidly identifying a compound capable of modulating the proliferative status of a population of primitive hematopoietic cells, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a first target cell population comprising primitive hematopoietic cells; (b) providing a plurality of second target cell populations comprising primitive hematopoietic cells; (c) incubating each of the first and the second target cell populations in a cell growth medium comprising fetal bovine serum having a concentration of between 0% and about 30%, methyl cellulose having a concentration of between about 0.4% and about 0.7%, and in an atmosphere having between about 3.5% oxygen and 7.5% oxygen; (d) contacting each of the first and the second target cell populations with a proliferation agent, the proliferation agent comprising one or more growth factors, one or more cytokines, or combinations thereof; (e) contacting the plurality of the second target cell populations with at least one test compound; (f) contacting each of the first and the second target cell populations with a reagent capable of reacting with ATP and generating luminescence in the presence of ATP; (g) detecting luminescence generated by the reagent that reacted with the ATP in each of the first and the second target cell populations, the level of luminescence indicating the amount of ATP in the first and the second target cell populations, wherein the amount of ATP indicates the proliferative status of the first and the second target cell populations of primitive hematopoietic cells; and (h) comparing the proliferative status of the plurality of the second target cell populations with the proliferative status of the first target cell population of primitive hematopoietic cells not in contact with the test compound, wherein a change in the proliferative status between the first target cell population and each one of the plurality of second target cell populations provides identification of a test compound capable of modulating the proliferative status of a target cell population.