The Important Role of in Vitro Screening Related Services in Drug Discovery and

Posted by Chelsea Clark on December 17th, 2020

In Vitro Screening is a screening process used to find a small number of compounds with the desired biological activity in a large collection. The basic premise of screening is that biological assays are repeatable, reliable, robust and biologically relevant. Creative Bioarray provides a range of products and services that can speed up your drug discovery program, with the goal of providing innovative tools that make drug development more efficient, cost-effective and more successful.

Analytical development is an objective method of screening putative compounds to determine target interactions or modifications. A better understanding of the specific pathways involved in the etiology of diseases can help researchers develop more comprehensive assays using emerging tools and technologies. In the design phase, analysis conditions and steps are selected to minimize potential sources. The false positive and false negative hit rate is related to the selectivity and sensitivity of the assay. A hit is defined as the consistent activity of a molecule in a biochemical or cell-based assay and is expressed as a percentage of activity relative to a control compound. The analysis, development and optimization process can be seen as a loop in which multiple variables can be tested and parameters that provide a better "reading window". The optimization experiment depends on the specific technique used.

A very important aspect of optimization is to improve the reproducibility and statistical performance of the assay by finding conditions that increase the signal-to-noise ratio relative to the positive and negative controls, and to reduce the errors in the microtiter plate caused by pipetting differences between wells and temperature gradient. Generally, the coefficient of variation is smaller than and reduces the variation between wells due to pipetting errors and temperature gradients across the microtiter plate. Generally, the coefficient of variation is smaller than and reduces the variation between wells due to pipetting errors and temperature gradients across the microtiter plate. The analytical verification shows that the analysis is acceptable for its intended purpose. Strict validation is critical because the method is expected to be robustly performed within a few years during the pre-clinical development process. Robust measurement requires that the measured signal can provide biologically relevant data.

A variety of detection methods (such as colorimetry, fluorescence, bioluminescence and resonance energy transfer (FRET)) are the methods of choice for plate readings. Fluorescence methods provide a more sensitive method for screening small molecule modulators because they not only have a better signal-to-noise ratio, but also have the advantage of low background. Creative Bioarray provides high-sensitivity colorimetric and fluorescent activity assays for screening MMP, caspase, collagenase and gelatinase inhibitors, as well as high-activity enzymes and specific antibodies for drug development projects. These assays reflect the synergy of Creative Bioarray functions, including the assembly of small peptides, the synthesis of active recombinant proteins, the development of fluorescent labeling and detection technology, and the development of antibodies into powerful and reproducible assay kits.

High-throughput screening (HTS) is an iterative test of different compounds in an assay. If the filter can detect> 10,000 tests (wells) per day, it is generally considered high throughput. HTS enables researchers to quickly perform millions of tests and quickly identify related modified genes, proteins or compounds involved in specific biological pathways. The results of these screenings can usually identify new drug targets or the drug activity of a single target and can reveal the structure-function relationship in small molecule "hits" and functional clusters in biological pathways. By centrally collecting unique compound libraries, Creative Bioarray has a long and successful record of using off-the-shelf compound screening methods.

In vitro screening systems and high-throughput screening have greatly contributed to improving the efficiency of drug screening in the modern drug discovery process. Before the advent of these technologies, screening the biological activity of candidate compounds was the main bottleneck for identifying new therapies.