High-Throughput Screening
High-throughput screening (HTS) is the iterative testing of different compounds in an assay based on a state-of-the-art, flexible automation platform. A screen is generally considered high throughput if it can assay > 10,000 assays (wells) per day. HTS allows a researcher to quickly conduct millions of tests and to rapidly identify relevant modifier genes, proteins, or compounds involved in a specific biological pathway. The results of these screens typically identify new drug targets or drug activities at a single target and can unveil structure–function relationships in small-molecule “hits” and functional clustering within biological pathways.
CD ComputaBio has a long and successful track record for ready-to-use methods for compound screening through a focused collection of unique compound libraries. A subset of our screening library could be selected by our computational chemistry group based on virtual screening against any protein structure, active sites or hotspots or based on known ligands or fragment hits and added to any “virtual hits” from computational screening of the commercial database.
Main Technologies
- Radiolabel Assays
- Luminescence
- Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR)
- Fluorescent Imaging Plate Reader (FLIPR)
- Bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET)
- Fluorescence Polarization
- Fluorescence-correlation Spectroscopy
- Functional Whole Cell Assays
- Enzyme Complementation Assays
- Mass Spectrometry Assays
- High-Content Assays
HTS Screening Platform
Our automation platform is fully integrated with industry leading informatics to ensure data fidelity and compound tracking, providing a full audit trail for data, samples and operations.
Figure 1 HTS Process
Generally, high-throughput screening consists of the following four steps:
- Preparation of samples and compound libraries
- Establishment of a method suitable for lab automation
- Configuration of a robotic workstation
- Acquisition and handling of data
Our Expert Team and Screening Service
Our scientists are experts at designing bespoke hit finding solutions, with tailored screening approaches which encompass Biochemical, Biophysical and Cell-based Assays, to support your early stage projects. We screen for the identification of hit compounds using our own libraries, or those libraries brought to us by our clients for HTS screening in drug discovery.
Quality Control (QC)
High-quality HTS assays are critical in HTS experiments. The development of high-quality HTS assays requires the integration of both experimental and computational approaches for QC.
- Good design of microtiter plate to identify systematic errors on both QC and hit selection
- Selection of effective positive and negative chemical/biological controls
- Development of effective QC metrics to measure the degree of differentiation
Our quality management system (QMS) and assay validation procedures generate high-quality data to ensure the accurate and confidential transfer of your high-throughput screening data. Consult with our expert team to design the best assay type and the best library to meet your individual program goals.
