The IonWorks® Barracuda™ System is the ideal platform for ion channel screening. Its ability to assay both voltage-gated and rapidly desensitizing ligand-gated ion channels combined with the capability to assay 1,100 to 6,000 data points per hour enables the IonWorks Barracuda System to meet the challenges of ion channel screening in today’s drug discovery environment. The IonWorks Barracuda System comes in two configurations; a base system and a fully automated system which includes cell management capabilities and plate-handling. IonWorks Barracuda Systems feature 384 discrete amplifiers and a 384-channel pipettor head which allows the recording of all 384-wells of the PatchPlate consumable in parallel. The software is designed to run in two distinct modes; Assay Development or Screening Mode. In Screening Mode, the user simply loads a saved protocol from the library and starts the run for walk away operation. Assay Development Mode allows the user to alter experimental conditions during the course of an experiment. Applied voltage protocols can be changed multiple times during the course of an experiment for as long as the cells remain viable.