Electrophysiology Characterisation as a Service (MEA Recording)
Buy the recording rather than the platform, MEA recordings and high-content imaging at a published per-recording rate card, with no instrument purchase.
| Category | QC, Characterization & Acceptance Testing |
|---|---|
| Unit | One recording, one plate imaged, or one phenotyping campaign across a defined number of conditions |
| Lead time | Recording turnaround is per project; the binding constraint is upstream maturation, which is three to seven weeks between thawing a vial and having a network worth recording from. Curi Bio publishes 3-5 weeks for a typical 3D phenotyping study |
| Pricing | Published list price |
| Provenance | Partner manufactured |
| Data current | 2026-09-03 |
Description
The option most often skipped, because building capability feels like progress and buying a service feels like an admission. One institutional core publishes a full rate card for exactly this: MEA recordings priced per recording, high-content imaging priced per plate, and a project planning fee per new project, all with internal, external academic and external industry tiers. Set that against the alternative and the arithmetic is not close for low-volume users. A 48-well MEA plate is roughly $49 of consumable per condition on the derived 2024 plate price, before any instrument, technician, coating, medium or four-to-seven-week maturation, and an instrument purchase in this category is a six-figure federal procurement event with a five-figure annual service contract behind it. Below roughly one plate a month, the service is straightforwardly cheaper, and the project planning fee is the entire fixed cost of finding out. The same core also publishes a differentiation service rate, which makes it possible to buy the cells and the recording as one line rather than assembling them. What this offering does not do is remove the specification problem: 'MEA-ready' has no standard definition, no release criterion and no independent certification, and no supplier sells neurons with a network-activity acceptance criterion attached. So we put the criterion in the specification, burst rate, synchrony index, day of measurement, and we tell you if nobody will accept it.
Why this is hard to buy today
There is no product on the market that is a delivered, already-firing human neural network with a stated activity acceptance criterion, so a group needing twenty recordings a year is pushed toward a six-figure instrument decision plus a four-to-eight-week maturation they carry the risk on, when a published rate card puts an external academic recording at $64.00 and the entire fixed cost of finding out at a $377.00 project planning fee.
Price evidence
Boston Children's Hospital IDDRC Human Neuron Unit published fee schedule, captured 2026-09-01, in three customer tiers (internal BCH / external academic / external industry): MEA recording, per recording, $49.00 / $64.00 / $84.00; high content imaging, image capture, per plate, $162.00 / $211.00 / $276.00; project planning fee, per new project, $290.00 / $377.00 / $493.00; access to a control iPSC line, per line, $382.00 / $497.00 / $650.00; NGN2 cortical neurons at 3 weeks, one batch equalling two 10 cm dishes, $1,796.00 internal / $2,334.00 external academic, not offered to industry. Note the internal inconsistency in that card: cells carry a 1.30x academic multiplier while services carry 1.70x. The comparison figure to hold it against is consumable-only: on the derived Axion 48-well plate price of $488.80 (see the MEA plate offering for the full derivation and award references), a 48-well plate run at four wells per condition with vehicle and positive controls is a ten-condition experiment at roughly $49 per condition, before instrument, technician, coating, medium or maturation. Published force-phenotyping reference points from the Mantarray validation work, for the contractile equivalent: iPSC-derived engineered muscle tissue average twitch force 385-1,156 uN and average tetanic force about 1,660 uN; primary human myoblast constructs about 306 uN twitch at day 7.
These are supplier list prices we located and recorded, not a quotation from Wetware World. Your price depends on quantity, specification and freight, and is only binding once issued in writing.
What you must specify
A quote cannot be produced without these. Anything you leave open, a supplier will assume, usually expensively.
| # | Parameter |
|---|---|
| 01 | MEA platform and plate format the recording must be made on |
| 02 | Number of recordings, and the number of conditions after replicates and controls |
| 03 | Whether cells are supplied by the buyer or differentiated by the provider |
| 04 | Co-culture composition and ratio, since astrocytes are effectively mandatory for network activity |
| 05 | Seeding density in the units the protocol uses, and whether droplet or distributed plating |
| 06 | Coating protocol, including any matrix added to the seeding medium |
| 07 | Recording schedule: day of first recording, interval, and day of plateau |
| 08 | The acceptance criterion in writing: burst rate, synchrony index or firing rate, at a stated day |
| 09 | Pharmacological challenge compounds, if any |
| 10 | Whether raw data is delivered or only a report |
| 11 | Customer class and eligibility for the tier being quoted |
Quality documentation
Typically available with this item. What actually ships is confirmed on the quotation, per supplier.
- Recording report against the stated acceptance criterion
- Raw recording data where the provider delivers it
- Plate and platform identification per recording
- Where differentiation is bundled, the provider's own cell release data
Candidate suppliers
Organisations we have identified as capable. Listing does not imply a partnership, an endorsement, or that they have agreed to quote.
| Organisation | Basis for inclusion |
|---|---|
| Boston Children's Hospital IDDRC Human Neuron Unit | Publishes a three-tier fee schedule captured 2026-09-01: MEA recording $49/$64/$84 per recording, high content imaging $162/$211/$276 per plate, project planning fee $290/$377/$493 per new project, control iPSC line access $382/$497/$650, NGN2 cortical neurons $1,796 internal / $2,334 external academic per batch of two 10 cm dishes. |
| Curi Bio | Publishes phase durations rather than prices: 3D phenotyping study typically 3-5 weeks, screening 4-12 weeks, and three named engagement models (fee-for-service, FTE, hybrid/cost-share). Functional phenotyping including contractility, calcium and metabolic endpoints is the stated deliverable. |
| eNUVIO (contract research services) | Advertises fully customised contract research including neural spheroids, axotomy, neuronal excitotoxicity, neuronal propagation and axon guidance, and states it does not offer off-the-shelf assays but develops customised ones. Quote only. |
Sources
doc WW-QC-56610 · rev 2026-09-03 · research use only · prices indicative and not binding until quoted in writing