High-Throughput Screening

Storing, processing, analyzing, and accessing the wealth of data generated in an HTS assay poses special problems, simply because there is so much of it. Bioinformatics strategies are used to develop databases relating chemical structure, target characteristics, and assay results, allowing researchers to learn more from their results than just whether or not a particular compound was successful. Analyzing the common features of successful compounds may lead to rational development of better drug candidates.

High-throughput technology can also be put to use in other areas besides drug development. Indeed, any system in which there are many similar candidates to be screened, and in which a visible output can be designed, is amenable to high-throughput methods. Genomics applications are a principal area for applying HTS technology, in DNA sequencing, protein analysis, and other fields. HTS methods can be combined with DNA microarray technology, for instance, to analyze the expression of hundreds of different genes under varying conditions.