High-content Screening (HCS)

In the early stage of drug discovery, traditional target-based high-throughput screening (HTS) technology has been extensively used in hit identification due to its high-speed, high-efficiency, and quantitative characteristics. However, the detection model cannot fully reflect the biological activity of the selected samples. Cell-based high-content screening (HCS) technology enables simultaneous screening of compounds with multiple targets and parameters and realizes a comprehensive evaluation of the druggability of a compound at the cellular level. Thus, it is increasingly becoming an indispensable technology in the process of drug development. Creative Biostructure provides automated, high-throughput, and high-resolution imaging HCS solutions for global customers with drug screening demand. In fact, our HCS system is a general technology platform for drug screening model building, candidate drug screening, lead optimization, and drug toxicity evaluation.

The HCS equipment of Creative Biostructure includes a high-resolution automated fluorescence image acquisition system, image analysis and processing software and data management system. Meanwhile, we are also equipped with an automated sample loading module and an environmental control system for long-term automated experimental analysis.

Figure 1. Phenotype-based HCS process for hit identification using fluorescent probe. (Jo A.; et al. 2016)

We support specialized analysis for specific biological responses and can also design analysis methods based on project requirements. With the HCS system, we can detect hundreds of cellular parameters, such as target activation, apoptosis, protein translocation, cell viability, cell migration cytotoxicity, cell cycle, and cell signal transduction, etc.

Our High-content Screening services service can help you:

• Clarify the interaction between screened compounds and the drug target
• Understand multiple biological changes of cells and obtain spatiotemporal information about cellular events
• Study the effects of screened compounds on related metabolic pathways
• Predict the toxicity of compounds by observing cell morphology
• Realize high-throughput screening of candidates and quickly find the effective components of drugs

Advantages of our High-content Screening services:

• We have several compound libraries, which can be widely used in HCS, and can also customize libraries according to project requirements.
• Advanced and automated equipment and analysis software meet the requirements of high-throughput screening.
• Parallel data collection and analysis of multiple samples with 96- or 384-well plates can be performed.
• Rich experience in high-throughput screening and image analysis enables us to select appropriate cell types and parameters before launching the HCS project.

Creative Biostructure applies HCS technology to the process of drug discovery to help you perform hit identification. We exploit this technique to monitor phenotypic changes, such as morphology, cell localization, and proliferation during lead compound optimization. Before each HCS project starts, our drug discovery specialists communicate with customers to design a personalized solution. During the execution of the project, we timely feedback on the information of each crucial link and provide detailed raw data and reports at the end.

Reference

1. Jo A.; et al. A high-content screening platform with fluorescent chemical probes for the discovery of first-in-class therapeutics. Chemical Communications. 2016, 52(47): 7433-7445.