Implementation of High Throughput Screening on iPS cells

Pivot Park Screening Centre is a CRO specialized in high throughput screening and operates as the beating heart of the European Lead Factory (ELF). ELF is a pan-European platform for drug discovery, supported by IMI, which was launched 3 years ago to revitalize drug research in Europe. Comprising a collection of over 400,000 unique proprietary compounds and an experienced screening centre, the European Lead Factory will offer both researchers in academia and SMEs an unprecedented opportunity to advance medical research and develop new medicines. The success of the European Lead Factory is witnessed by the completion of more than 40 screening campaigns and by the successful transfer of more than 20 Qualified Hit List reports to the target owners. The over 40 HTS campaigns performed to date cover a wide range of target classes including more demanding cellular targets like ion channels and GPCR?s. Cellular HTS assays have been successfully miniaturized to 384- and 1536-well format in order to perform them in a cost-efficient manner. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) belong to a growing list of stem cell populations that hold great potential for use in cell-based assay development and screening. iPSCs like cardiomyocytes and neuronal cells represent a reliable source of cellular material with robust assay performance and scalability which is essential to any HTS campaign . To demonstrate the impact of iPSCs in modern drug discovery we present examples of assay automation and miniaturization of cellular assays based on high content imaging using the Operetta and Ca-flux using the FLIPR instruments. Our examples show the opportunities and benefits that iPSc may provide in the search for new chemical starting points for drug discovery in the near future