This Month’s Top News Stories in Drug Discovery

In this month’s interesting articles, learn about CombiChem and effective antibody discovery, and read about neuroscience imaging, high-throughput screening technologies, tumor invasion assays, drug encapsulation and neurotoxin assays.

The Resurgence of CombiChem Technologies
The generation of large diverse libraries of new compounds from defined building blocks for screening, known as ‘combinatorial chemistry’, is a key part of the drug discovery process. Two recent studies in Nature Chemistry provide examples of 'modern combichem' and describe the products and techniques used to combine the features of natural product biosynthesis into the creation of compound libraries.

How to set up an Effective High Throughput Antibody Discovery Lab
In the past 15 years, changes in the cost and reliability of technology have caused an explosion of tools and applications that increased the capability and capacity of any researcher, lab or company to speed up discovery. Automation and high throughput screening (HTS) are two examples of these advances, which have become a normal presence in the majority of the world’s labs today. Combine these capabilities with the power of flow cytometry and your options are limitless.

Five Essential Neuroscience Imaging Applications
Read about these essential imaging technologies and how they help with neuroscience research.

SCREENSTAR: A 1536 Well Microplate for High Content and High Throughput Screening
SCREENSTAR is a new generation microplate for advanced high content and high throughput screening. Manufactured entirely of cycloolefin, an innovative resin with advanced optical properties, the SCREENSTAR microplate features a black pigmented frame with a 190 μm ultra-clear film bottom. Combining excellent optical features with high-quality surfaces for cell culture and biochemical assays, the microplate design facilitates the use of high magnification objectives with a low working distance, ideally suited for fully automated screening systems.

Cellular Analysis of 3D Spheroid-Based Tumor Invasion Assays
This application note describes how the entire invasion assay procedure, from spheroid formation through monitoring of the invasion process, can be performed in one plate, which makes the process much easier to perform. Instructions for forming the invasion matrix are also included.

High Sensitivity Botulinum Neurotoxin Assays Using the Infinite® F500
Download this application poster to discover why BioSentinel recommends the advanced features of the Infinite® F500 Reader from Tecan to its customers. BioSentinel uses the Infinite® F500 Reader in its high sensitivity, FRET-based botulinum neurotoxin assays, for detection of bioterrorism agents.

Assessing Drug Encapsulation Efficiency Using Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis
This application note describes the use of Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis for size and concentration measurements of drug delivery nanoparticles. In addition, by using a fluorescently tagged drug molecule, it was possible to determine how many drug delivery nanoparticles had successfully been loaded with drug molecules.