Assay Guidance Workshop for High Throughput Screening and Lead Discovery

Saturday, February 5, 2022

8:15 AM – 5:00 PM

Location: 102A

Michelle Arkin, PhD

Professor, Pharm Chem; co-Director, Small Molecule Discovery Center
University of California - San Francisco, California, United States
Douglas Auld, PhD

Associate Director
Novartis, Massachusetts, United States
Thomas D.Y. D.Y Chung, PhD

Director, Translational Programs Outreach
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, California, United States
Nathan P. Coussens, PhD

Scientific Director, Molecular Pharmacology Laboratories
Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Maryland, United States
Viswanath Devanarayan, PhD, FAAPS

Senior Director
Eisai, Inc., Pennsylvania, United States
Abigail Grossman

Managing Editor
NCATS, Maryland, United States
Sarine Markossian, PhD

Editor-in-Chief, Assay Guidance Manual (AGM) and Lead, AGM Translational Science Resources Program
NCATS/NIH, Maryland, United States
Terry Riss, PhD

Scientific Ambassador
Promega Corporation, Wisconsin, United States
Joe Trask

HCS Cellular Imaging Product Line Leader
PerkinElmer, Massachusetts, United States
XX

Xin Xu, PhD

Director of Pharmacokinetics
NCATS/NIH, Maryland, United States

Additional Fees Apply -- visit the Short Course Program section for more information.

Registration

This workshop is available to SLAS2022 registrants only and requires an additional registration fee. Click here to register now.

Summary

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 which is not readily found in a classroom or the 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. The workshop will provide participants with 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 and (3) develop robust assays and the required counter and secondary assays for targets of interest.

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 that 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.

Benefits

The workshop will provide participants with 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

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.

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.

Overview on sources of assay artifacts and strategies to identify artifacts through the development and implementation of counter assays.

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.