From Rare Earth Probes to Internalization Assays: The pHSense Story with Dr. Eric Trinquet

What does it take to design a breakthrough GPCR assay—from idea to industrial impact? In this special episode, Dr. Eric Trinquet shares the inside story behind the development of pH Sense, Revvity’s latest innovation for tracking GPCR internalization.

With a career spanning two decades at the intersection of fluorescence chemistry, functional assays, and product development, Eric takes us through the highs, failures, and scientific “aha” moments that shaped tools like the IP-One kit, Tag-lite, and now, pH Sense.

You’ll hear what truly makes a reagent successful—and why academic–industry collaborations are essential for advancing GPCR research.

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Inside This Episode

• How Eric and his team reimagined rare earth complexes to develop pH-sensitive probes with tunable brightness and lifetime.

• Why pH Sense enables high-throughput, no-wash tracking of GPCR internalization—even at endogenous expression levels.

• What shifted the team’s strategy from traditional calcium assays to IP1 accumulation—and why it mattered for Gq-coupled receptors.

• How collaborations with David Parker and Jean-Philippe Pin accelerated both probe chemistry and biological validation.

• What it felt like to see the first dose-response curves in native beta cells—and why that moment changed the trajectory of the project.

• Why the commercialization of a reagent is not the end, but the beginning of a feedback-driven innovation cycle.

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Why It Might Hit Home

If you’ve ever:

• Wrestled with unreliable endpoint assays or cumbersome radioactive protocols,

• Pushed for more physiologically relevant systems and hit the “overexpression ceiling,”

• Balanced scientific rigor with the unpredictability of product development,

• Or felt the thrill of seeing a tool you built drive real biological insight…

• …this episode will resonate.

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About the Guest

Dr. Eric Trinquet is Head of R&D for Life Sciences Reagents at Revvity, where he leads innovation in biochemical and cell-based assay platforms.

With a foundational career at Cisbio Bioassays—later acquired by Revvity—Eric played a pivotal role in bringing technologies like HTRF, the IP-One kit, and the Tag-lite platform into widespread use.

Originally trained as a physicist with a strong interest in photophysics and fluorescence chemistry, Eric transitioned into the GPCR field through hands-on assay development.

His passion lies in turning cutting-edge probe chemistry into robust, scalable tools for drug discovery and basic research. What drives him? A mix of scientific curiosity, a tolerance for failure, and a commitment to delivering real-world impact—one product at a time.

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More about Revvity

• pHSense Reagents

• GPCR Reagents

• Revvity on Dr. GPCR

• Dr. GPCR X Revvity Collaboration

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