Assay development & optimisation

Immunoassay Automation: Hands-free platforms set to change the workflow in research labs By Dr John Comley The automation of immunoassays is not a new trend, but one that has already witnessed decades of innovation in diagnostic laboratories. However, in terms of hands-free automated processing of small batches of immunoassays in the research lab, the potential […]

By Dr John Comley 3D cell culture has the potential to deliver higher quality culture information that is more representative of tissue morphology and predictive of drug responses in vivo. Three years ago we concluded in DDW that 3D cell culture was still open to major improvements, so what has changed? By far the biggest […]

Automated Compound Management Evolves To Meet The Drug Discovery Demands Of The Future By Dr Caroline Engeloch and Dr Daniel Baeschlin The development of new drugs involves testing hundreds of thousands of compounds, from high throughput screening through to subsequent lead optimization. Recognizing the importance of a compound bank in supporting drug discovery activities, as […]

Chemical Space, High Throughput Screening and The World Of Blockbuster Drugs By Dr Hakim Djaballah We are constantly told that if a high throughput screen does not identify hit(s) then blame it on the compounds in your library. The community has accepted this notion and unleashed a chemical space exploration through the use of novel […]

DNA Sequencing: Latest Developments In Next-Generation Sequencing By Andrew Szopa-Comley Next-generation sequencing has expanded the frontiers of genomic research, opening up new avenues of enquiry and offering insights into diverse areas of biology. Rapid developments in this field are dramatically lowering costs and increasing speeds.     With the arrival of third generation sequencing, this […]

Nanobioscience & Nanotechnology: The Future Of Personalised Medicine By Abhishek Gottipati, Joseph M. Sanders and Dr Scott A. Tenenbaum Nanotechnology has been more than a buzz word in the business world for a long time now and has been striding ahead, living up to the hype. There is a general ambiguity in defining ‘nanotechnology’ which […]

Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA): Recent Innovations Take Analyte Detection To New Levels By Dr John Comley Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) have been around as one of the primary methods of analyte detection for more than four decades. Over the years many changes to the basic format have resulted in assay improvements, but some of the […]

The Challenges Of The Changing Drug Discovery Model By Dr Mark Downs and Dr Tom Blackburn The drug development industry is restructuring worldwide. This brings different ways of working and new challenges. As the industry moves away from internally focused research to an external model, project management and communication of science will often be more […]

Small Scale Benchtop Automation: Broadening the adoption of lab automation By Dr John Comley Driven by the need to enable technically challenging or repetitive processes, many labs in drug discovery that were not previously adopters of laboratory automation are being increasingly drawn to the potential of simple small-scale benchtop automation.     The immediately obvious […]

8 Years of Surveying Ion Channel Screening – Has anything changed? By Dr John Comley No review of ion channel screening over the past decade can avoid discussing the pivotal role played by automated electrophysiology. Arguably this technology, more than any other, has opened up the field to wider investigation, made ion channels more accessible […]