Patent ID: 7615356

Claim:
A method of high throughput characterization of the biological activity of a candidate compound comprising: placing a population of cells, solvent, voltage sensitive chemical probes and at least one candidate compound into an area of observation in at least one sample well in a multiwell plate; exposing said population of cells to electric fields produced by one or more pairs of electrodes disposed within said sample well, wherein said electric fields comprise a first pulse series comprising a first plurality of electric pulses and a second pulse series comprising a second plurality of electric pulses with a pause between the first pulse series and the second pulse series, wherein said pause has a duration that is at least as long as twice the time interval between any two pulses in the first pulse series; and monitoring changes in transmembrane potential of said population of cells in said sample well by monitoring emission from said voltage sensitive chemical probes during at least a portion of said first pulse series and a portion of said second pulse series in a parallel assay high throughput manner.