HIGH-THROUGHPUT SCREENING IN DRUG DISCOVERY

High-throughput screening (HTS) is one of the newest techniques used in drug design and may be applied in biological and chemical sciences. This method, due to use of robots, detectors and software that regulate the whole process, enables a sequence of analyses of chemical compounds to be conducted in a short time and the resemblance of biological structures which is often related to toxicity to be defined. The HTS method is more frequently utilized in conjunction with analytical techniques such as NMR or coupled methods e.g., LC-MS/MS. Series of studies enable the establishment of the rate of affinity for targets or the level of toxicity. Moreover, researches are conducted concerning conjugation of nano-particles with drugs and the determination of the toxicity of such structures. For these purposes there are frequently used cell lines. Determination of cytotoxicity in this way leads to a significant decrease in the costs and to a reduction in the duration of the study.

Keywords: High-throughput screening (HTS), drug development, drug discovery