Our technology
Combining the biological power of traditional bioassays with the speed and polish of synthetic biology, InsituGen’s bioassay technology is a powerful new tool for the detection of steroid hormone bioactivity.
A revolution in sex hormone testing.
InsituGen’s technology revolutionises the detection of anonymous or established androgenic or estrogenic compounds, permitting the screening of more samples in a range of diverse matrices across the sports doping, health and wellbeing, supplement, and environmental safety industries.
Bioassay technology to work alongside existing chemical analysis.
Current steroid hormone analysis or hormonal profiling relies on the use of chemical techniques to detect compounds of interest through a database of referenced chemical structures. These chemical techniques are crucial to the identification of unique chemical structures. Whilst analytical chemistry techniques are effective at detecting a range of profiled compounds, it is difficult to identify the novel molecular architecture of the emerging range of designer androgens prevalent in the sports-doping and supplement industries, xenoestrogens and xenoandrogens that leach from microplastics, or phytoestrogens and androgens emerging as potent environmental hazards, and other small molecules that may interact with the androgen receptor pathways. InsituGen’s technology provides an effective screening tool within current testing workflows.
Detection of total androgenic activity, regardless of molecular structure.
Biological techniques such as reporter gene cellular bioassays are able to detect the presence of androgens by exploiting steroid biology. Using these techniques, any activation of androgenic pathways can be detected, regardless of the chemical anonymity or molecular fingerprint of the compound. These cell-based bioassays are laborious, low throughput, time-consuming, and rely heavily on specialised equipment and personnel.
Exploiting the biological pathway using synthetic biology, InsituGen has developed bioassays capable of detecting any androgenic-activating compound, whether of known or unknown structure.