What is High-Throughput Screening?

What is High-Throughput Screening?

High-throughput screening (HTS) is a critical tool in modern drug discovery, enabling researchers to rapidly test large libraries of chemical or biological compounds against specific biological targets.

The primary goal of high-throughput screening is to identify “hits”—compounds that interact with the target in a desired way—such as binding to a protein or inhibiting an enzyme. HTS significantly speeds up the early stages of drug discovery, where identifying promising candidates is iterative, time-consuming and labor-intensive.

 

Stages of High-Throughput Screening

High-throughput screening involves several key stages:

1. Sample and Compound Library Preparation: Large libraries of compounds are prepared for testing in arrayed formats, often using microplates with hundreds or thousands of wells. These libraries can include a variety of sources, such as chemical, genomic, protein, and peptide collections, offering a broad range of potential compounds to screen for interactions with biological targets. Preparations can be planned and tracked using spreadsheets or lab software with plate management features, like the one pictured. 
2. Automated Assay Execution: The HTS process can be highly automated, to the point of involving robotics and liquid handling devices to ensure precise execution. Assays are miniaturized, lowering the volume of reagents and samples to fit into microplate wells to increase throughput and reduce costs.
3. Data Acquisition and Analysis: Screening results are captured using specialized detectors and analyzed using lab software to identify potential “hits” for further testing and filter out false positives and negatives.
4. Hit Selection and Optimization: Once hits are identified, they undergo further validation and optimization for potential drug development. This might include processes like hit picking, where promising compounds are cherry-picked for further testing and improvements to enhance their effectiveness.

 

How Biologics LIMS Supports High-Throughput Screening

For biotech companies engaged in antibody discovery, Biologics LIMS accelerates and streamlines the HTS process by centralizing results and analyses as well as automating key workflows. The integrated suite of tools connects samples, plates, assays, and data, enabling rapid decision-making and improving operational efficiency.

Biologics LIMS features, like sample and plate management, bioregistration and integrated electronic lab notebooks, allows teams to:

• Track samples and plate metadata through screening and characterization workflows.
• Capture and analyze assay data to streamline hit selection and reporting.
• Maintain data integrity with full auditing capabilities, ensuring reproducibility and compliance.

Take a tour to see the software for yourself, or book a demo to discuss how Biologics LIMS can help your lab with high-throughput screening efficiency.