Combinatorial Chemistry & High Throughput Screening - Volume 12, Issue 9, 2009

In the past decade, in vitro cell-based imaging has benefited from the maturing of automated devices and the advancement in image analysis tools. Applications of high content screening (HCS) have impacted both drug discovery and basic research in pharmaceutical industry and academic institutes. In this special issue dedicated to In Vitro Imaging, we are privileged to have some of the most distinguished movers and shake Read More

Efficiency and accuracy in addressing drug safety issues proactively are critical in minimizing late-stage drug attritions. Discovery Toxicology has become a specialty subdivision of Toxicology seeking to effectively provide early predictions and safety assessment in the drug discovery process. Among the many technologies utilized to select safer compounds for further development, in vitro imaging technology is one of the best Read More

Building cellular models of disease based on the approach of Cellular Systems Biology (CSB)™ has the potential to improve the process of creating drugs as part of the continuum from early drug discovery through drug development and clinical trials and diagnostics. This paper focuses on the application of CSB to early drug discovery. We discuss the integration of protein-protein interaction biosensors with other multiplexed, fu Read More

As technologies for high throughput and high content screening continue to evolve, new platforms for quantitative cellular imaging will play an increasingly important role in identifying and profiling lead compounds. To gain insight into the effects of a compound on cell morphology or intracellular events, it is necessary to have quality images and the ability to enumerate thousands of data points for statistical relevance Read More

Tumors are complex structures of malignant cells and stromal cells that function as an integrated system that promotes tumor progression. Immune cells and other stromal components serve vital cooperative functions that often support tumor growth and metastasis; stromal content and function are strongly associated with disease progression and clinical outcome in cancer patients. Cellular systems biology consider Read More

Over the last decade, imaging as a detection mode for cell based assays has opened a new world of opportunities to measure “phenotypic endpoints” in both current and developing biological models. These “high content” methods combine multiple measurements of cell physiology, whether it comes from sub-cellular compartments, multicellular structures, or model organisms. The resulting multifaceted data can be Read More

Automated high content screening and analysis (HCS/HCA) technology solutions have become indispensable in expediting the pace of drug discovery. Because of the complexity involved in designing, building, and validating HCS/HCA platforms, it is important to design, build, and validate a HCS/HCA platform before it is actually needed. Managed properly, collaboration between technology providers and end users in resea Read More

Widely diverse biological queries are now routinely analyzed on the various optical platforms: laser line scanners, nonconfocal imagers and confocal imagers. These analyses may be performed to query a limited number of samples or range to include the evaluation of a million samples as is the goal of many screening departments in the pharmaceutical drug discovery area. First we review the key elements that distingui Read More

The field of High Content Screening (HCS) has evolved from a technology used exclusively by the pharmaceutical industry for secondary drug screening, to a technology used for primary drug screening and basic research in academia. The size and the complexity of the screens have been steadily increasing. This is reflected in the fact that the major challenges facing the field at the present are data mining and data storag Read More

Biomedicine has seen tremendous advances in the field of image acquisition. The generation of digital images of high information content has become so straightforward and efficient that the volume of images accumulating in biomedical disciplines is posing significant challenges. Until now, conventional image analysis solutions are generally pixel-based and limited in the amount of information that they extract. Howeve Read More

High Content Screening (HCS) and High Content Analysis (HCA) have emerged over the past 10 years as a powerful technology for both drug discovery and systems biology. Founded on the automated, quantitative image analysis of fluorescently labeled cells or engineered cell lines, HCS provides unparalleled levels of multi-parameter data on cellular events and is being widely adopted, with great benefits, in many aspect Read More

Flora Tang started biotech consulting on drug discovery operation and technology in 2007. Flora has extensive pharmaceutical experiences working at Amgen as Director of Research; SUGEN (subsidiary of Pharmacia) as Director of Discovery Technology; Eli Lilly; and GlaxoSmithKline. The scope of her work experiences involves high throughput biology using cutting-edge technologies and managing business operations. Flora start Read More