SLAS2020 Short Courses

Assay Guidance Workshop for High-Throughput Screening and Lead Discovery

This full-day workshop will cover a broad range of critical concepts underlying assay development and implementation for high-throughput screening (HTS) and lead discovery projects. Many of the methodologies successfully implemented in such projects have established a good deal of “tribal knowledge” within the pharmaceutical industry and are not readily found in a classroom or literature. This tribal knowledge, developed over decades, has been transferred into detailed chapters within the Assay Guidance Manual to facilitate reproducible and robust assays that can identify the most promising compounds for the development of molecular probes or clinical candidates.

Who Should Attend?

The target audience is individuals involved in bioassay development for drug discovery and development. The AGM and this workshop will be a valuable resource for academic, industrial and government laboratory scientists who are planning or beginning to develop test methods for high- or low-throughput screening who are amenable to automation using appropriate statistical and operational concepts. The workshop will also be useful for early career researchers and experienced investigators who wish to learn about the latest assay concepts for HTS and lead optimization

Course Benefits

Participants will gain a broad, practical perspective on assay development so that they can (1) improve research projects involving drug discovery and know where to find further information (2) identify reagents, methods and instrumentation that are well suited to robust assays (3) be able to develop robust assays and counter assays for new targets. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to seek practical advice about individual research challenges.

Workshop Objectives

1. Overview of the Assay Guidance Manual e-book as an important resource for detailed information about robust assay methods and best practices in quantitative biology.
2. Practical approaches for developing robust assays for biochemical, cell-based and high content screening as well as the selection and development of optimal assay reagents.
3. Overview on sources of assay artifacts and strategies to identify artifacts through the development and implementation of counter assays.
4. Discussion of important statistical and data analysis concepts with an emphasis on using these concepts to collect the best possible data and make go/no go decisions based on experimental results.
5. Open discussions to share experiences and seek practical advice about individual research concerns.

Workshop Agenda