High-Throughput Molecular Screening Center

Science at scale

Robot-Assisted Discovery

Where chemistry, biology and robotics join forces for drug discovery and lead identification.

This robot can screen hundreds of thousands of biologically active compounds against a disease target in just a day or two.

Discover New Drug Leads and New Biological Probes at Scale

High-Throughput Screening (HTS) is a drug-discovery process widely used in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. It leverages automation to quickly assay the biological or biochemical activity of a large number of drug-like compounds for the discovery of novel small molecule ligands against: receptors, enzymes, ion-channels and other pharmacological targets, or to pharmacologically profile a cellular or biochemical pathway of interest. Typically, HTS assays are performed in “automation-friendly” microtiter plates at 384 or 1536 well format against large chemical decks with thousands to a few million small molecule entities.

Information for Scientists

How to Partner with Us

The High-Throughput Molecular Screening Center at UF Scripps collaborates with both internal and external research groups. We provide assistance with assay development, pilot screens, HTS campaigns, grant support, compound management and core equipment access.

Contacts

Timothy P Spicer Ph.D.

Phone: (561) 228-2150
Mailing Address:
130 Scripps Way #1A1
The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute
Jupiter FL 33458

Louis Scampavia Ph.D.

Phone: (561) 228-2101
Mailing Address:
130 SCRIPPS WAY
JUPITER FL 33458

The UF Scripps HTS facility has a state-of-the-art HTS operation to support both intramural and extramural HTS needs. This facility has both HTS and compound management robotic automation combined with world class expertise in adapting cell-based and biochemical bench-top assays for HTS (target-based and phenotype screening). The UF Scripps Drug Discovery Library contains over 665,000 small drug-like compounds, including a number of diversity and target-based sub-libraries. Access to the HTS is easy and obtainable via collaborations as funded through grants and special funding proposals or through fee-for-service initiatives.

To request use of the UF Scripps HTS technology, please contact us or visit our website. Additional information about grant mechanisms that support high-throughput S=screening can also be found at this website.


HTS Assay Development

The HTMS Center uses plates with 1,536 wells.
The High-Throughput Molecualr Screening Center uses plates with 1,536 wells. We have special expertise in translating your assay to this format or a 384-well format.

The screening center will use its expertise to translate a benchtop “test tube” or low density titer plate assay to a 384-well and/or 1536-well plate format that is suitable for HTS robotic screening.

Pilot and Target Profiling Screening

A subset of UF Scripps’ compound library contains pharmacologically well-characterized compounds, active in the most common HTS target classes (GPCRs, ion channels, kinase, nuclear receptors, etc.). These preliminary screening efforts are well-suited for providing preliminary data (HTS readiness, statistical validation, hit rate estimations) for grant applications.

Full-Scale HTS Campaign

HTMSC robot conducting experiment at UF Scripps.
The screening robot uses extremely small quantities of reagents, improving efficiency and cost of screening.

Collaborators can gain access to the entire 665,000 unique pharmacological entities curated at UF Scripps through our screening services. Large subsets of this may be screened or collaborator’s libraries may be transferred and screened. Compound hits of interest are triaged through a battery of secondary assays (confirmation, counter-screen, cytotox assay, orthogonal assay, dose response) to select tractable chemical series suitable for “hit to lead” and “lead to probe” optimization.’

Compound Management

Limited access to compounds from the Drug Discovery Library for UF Scripps researchers can be requested.  In addition, compound plate reformatting and cheminformatic services are also available.

Collaboration Equipment Laboratory

Available to UF Scripps scientists is 24/7 access to HTS equipment such as pin-tool workstation, plate readers, plate centrifuge, plate dispensers and a MaxCyte transfection electroporation system.