HTS Panama Symposium

HTS Workshop

November 16-20, 2008
Panama City, Panama

Introduction to High Throughput Screening Technologies in Drug Discovery

An intensive and comprehensive workshop for the benefit of the Latin American scientific community

Academic research has contributed immensely in advancing the frontiers of science related to therapeutic areas. However, it has generally been the biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industries that contributed to the discovery and development of new drugs. The primary reason for this disparity has been the cost of the various facets of modern drug discovery. In recent years, high throughput screening (HTS) has been a major component in advancing the new lead discovery research in Pharma. Academia and smaller biotech firms just could not participate in HTS efforts because of the large capital investment needed to set up HTS laboratories. Similarly, Pharma neglected to address disease targets that are either financially too risky or scientifically impractical to implement. To bridge the gap in this disparity, academia is setting up HTS laboratories with funding from the appropriate government agencies to address the unmet critical needs by creating a new paradigm for drug discovery that integrates the best of Big Pharma, Biotech and Academia. This has also become possible due to a change in the mind-set of academic researchers who long held the view that HTS is an anti-intellectual endeavor, but have since come to appreciate the strength of HTS in new lead discovery. The challenge that remains to be addressed is 'what's next after HTS'. Is it just to find a 'tool' molecule or is it to discover and develop a 'drug'? What processes and collaborations have been set in place to transform a hit to a lead? With the 'publish or perish' dogma that is prevalent in academia, protection of intellectual property rights is a formidable task even if one finds the 'needle in a haystack'. High throughput screening is a great concept and holds promise for academia, but to follow the pharmaceutical paradigm in transforming a screen hit to a lead, and eventually in to a drug is 'easier said than done'. The reality is....that academia is ready for it.

The workshop introduces you to HTS concepts with regards to:

Liquid handling technologies and applications
Signal detection technologies (Abs, SPA, FI, FP, FRET, TRF, etc)
HTS workstations and integrated platforms
Establishing cell-based assays for screening
High content cellular screening
Statistical concepts in HTS assay design and validation
Computational approaches in hit to lead QSAR

It is anticipated that the participants will in turn gain a comprehensive understanding of:

what makes a good HTS assay
the basics behind designing an in vitro HTS assay (cell-free, cell-based)
the types of in vitro HTS assays
the challenges of designing an in vitro HTS assay
challenges of automation
biological causes of variation and how to minimize them
chemical library management
the statistical parameters for good quality data