HeLa Cells

The screening workhorse, now open to impermeable cargo.

HeLa is the default chassis for cell-based screening. Portal opens it to the cargo that chassis could never take up: DNA-encoded libraries, structurally complex macrocycles, E3 ligases for degrader assays, and full antibodies, delivered into live HeLa in one non-viral step.

85%+ DEL probe delivery into live HeLa. Cereblon E3 ligase delivered for live-cell binding and degrader assays. Antibody, oligo, and dextran co-delivered in one step. Uniform uptake across 96-well plates by automated dispensing.

Why Screen HeLa's with Portal

The line your RNAi, CRISPR, and reporter screens already run in, extended to the chemical matter those screens can't touch.

Live-Cell DEL Screening

The DNA barcode that makes a DEL library trackable is exactly what keeps it out of the cell, so DEL screens have run against purified protein. Portal delivers tagged DEL probes into HeLa, moving the screen into a live cell with the target in its native context.

Live-Cell Binding & Degrader Assays

Portal delivers Cy5-tagged cereblon E3 ligase into live HeLa with high viability, so ligand binding and degrader engagement are measured in intact cells rather than lysates, without overexpression.

Dose Control, Not Guesswork

Intracellular signal scales with the concentration you load, so dosing is proportional and tunable rather than all-or-nothing. That makes quantitative exposure and dose-response work possible for cargo classes that were never dose-controllable before.

Built for the Plate

HeLa seeds evenly, grows fast, and holds up to automated handling, which is why it scales to 96 and 384 wells. Galaxy-i retrofits the dispensers you already run (HighRes PreciseDrop II, Certus Flex, Opentrons Flex) with no change to dispense timing, and delivery stays flat across the plate.

Live-Cell DEL Screening

Live-Cell Binding & Degrader Assays

Portal delivers Cy5-tagged cereblon E3 ligase into live HeLa with high viability, so ligand binding and degrader engagement are measured in intact cells rather than lysates, without overexpression.

Dose Control, Not Guesswork

Built for the Plate

Start delivering now.

Experimentally proven delivery workflows for binding assays, live-cell screening, multiplex delivery, and high-throughput applications.

Workflow	Cargo	Readout	What This Enables
Intracellular protein binding	Cy5-cereblon E3 ligase	Uptake + viability	Live-cell binding and degrader assays
DEL probe delivery	DNA-encoded library probes	DEL+ cells	Live-cell DEL screening
Multiplex delivery	Antibody + oligo + dextran	Triple-positive cells	Multi-component assays
Dose-controlled macrocycles	Macrocycles	Linear uptake	Quantitative exposure studies
Automated screening	Fluorescent polymers	Uniform uptake	High-throughput compatibility

Highlighted Data and Applications

Figure 1a. Cell viability by flow cytometry after boost delivery of Cy5-labeled cereblon E3 ligase into HeLa. Viability is preserved relative to the untreated control.

Figure 1b. Intracellular delivery measured as percent Cy5-positive live cells. Over 75% of boosted HeLa take up the cereblon ligase, versus near-zero uptake in untreated cells.

Measuring Intracellular Target Engagement in Live Cells

Cy5-tagged cereblon E3 ligase was delivered into HeLa cells with high viability and robust intracellular uptake, enabling direct measurement of ligand binding and degrader engagement in live cells rather than lysates. This supports physiologically relevant protein-ligand interaction assays without overexpression or cell lysis.

Figure 2a. DEL probe delivery quantified by flow cytometry. Over 85% of live HeLa are probe-positive after boost, against near-zero in the untreated control.

Figure 2b. Flow-cytometry histograms of DEL-probe fluorescence, untreated control versus boost, showing a clear positive shift across the boosted population.

Enabling Live-Cell DNA-Encoded Library Screening

Fluorescently labeled DNA-encoded library (DEL) probes, typically excluded from cells due to their size and negative charge, were efficiently delivered into HeLa cells. Nearly all viable cells became DEL-positive, enabling intracellular binding and live-cell DEL screening workflows that are inaccessible using standard approaches.

Figure 3a. Per-cargo delivery efficiency after a single co-delivery boost of antibody, oligonucleotide, and dextran into HeLa, each measured as percent positive live cells.

Figure 3b. Flow-cytometry histograms for each cargo, control versus boost, confirming simultaneous uptake of all three macromolecules in the same cells.

Co-Delivering Multiple Macromolecules into the Same Cell

An isotype control antibody, a labeled oligonucleotide, and fluorescent dextran polymer were simultaneously delivered into HeLa cells in a single step. Most cells were positive for all three cargos while maintaining high viability, supporting complex, multi-component intracellular assay designs.

Figure 4a. HeLa viability across a macrocycle dose range. Cell health is preserved at every concentration tested.

Figure 4b. Flow-cytometry histograms of intracellular macrocycle signal, stacked by dose, showing a concentration-dependent increase in uptake.

Figure 4c. Mean intracellular fluorescence versus delivery concentration, showing an approximately linear dose-to-uptake relationship for quantitative exposure.

Concentration-Controlled Delivery of Macrocycles

Fluorescent macrocycles were delivered into HeLa cells with dose-dependent uptake and preserved cell health. Intracellular fluorescence scaled linearly with concentration, enabling quantitative exposure and dose-response studies directly in live cells.

Figure 5a. Per-well delivery across a full plate by automated dispensing, uniform well-to-well. The brightfield image 10 minutes post-boost shows healthy cell morphology.

Figure 5b. Uniform per-well delivery on a later plate in the run. The brightfield image 24 hours post-boost confirms sustained cell health.

High-Throughput Compatible Workflows

Delivery workflows were integrated with automated dispensing into 96-well plates pre-loaded with fluorescent polymers, resulting in uniform uptake across hundreds of wells and multiple plates. Cell morphology remained healthy immediately after delivery and at 24 hours, demonstrating compatibility with high-throughput screening applications.

One Chassis. Many Cargo Types.

A single delivery approach that supports a wide range of cargo types, individually or together, without re-optimizing workflows.

Antibodies

Proteins

DEL probes

Oligos

Macrocycles

Small molecules

Polymers

Multi-cargo

Run this in your lab

Tell us your cargo and target, and we'll share a HeLa boost protocol your team can run in-house.