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Dose-response in two cell lines

Goal: compare three compounds in HepG2 and A549 cells, each as an 8-point 1:3 dilution, with vehicle and untreated controls on every row.

Result

Layout

Rows Cell line Column 2 Columns 3–10 Column 11
B, E HepG2 / A549 DMSO Staurosporine 1 µM → 0.46 nM Untreated
C, F HepG2 / A549 DMSO Nocodazole 10 µM → 4.6 nM Untreated
D, G HepG2 / A549 DMSO Tetrandrine 30 µM → 14 nM Untreated

Rows A and H and columns 1 and 12 stay empty as an evaporation buffer.

Steps

  1. New project → 96-well.
  2. Cell lines: select B2:D11 → Inspector Cell line = HepG2. Select E2:G11 → A549.
  3. Dilutions: select B3:B10 and E3:E10 together (hold Shift), open Serial dilution, then set Top dose 1 µM, factor 3, Across rows, Also set Compound = Staurosporine. Repeat for rows C/F (Nocodazole, 10 µM) and D/G (Tetrandrine, 30 µM).
  4. Vehicle once: select one Staurosporine well and set Vehicle = DMSO, Compound class = Kinase inhibitor, Treatment group = Treatment. All other Staurosporine wells fill in. Do the same for the other two compounds.
  5. Controls: select column 2 (B2:G2): Compound DMSO, Concentration 0, Control DMSO, Treatment group Control. Do column 11 the same way with Untreated.
  6. Layers: Fill = Compound, Fill intensity = Concentration (Log), Ring = Cell line, Corner badge = Control, Text label = Concentration.
  7. Checks: confirm the list is empty ✓.
  8. Export: Export → PDF for the figure; Platemap CSV for analysis.

Why a log scale?

Dilution series are spaced geometrically. On a linear scale, everything below the top two doses looks equally pale. On a log scale every step is visibly different.