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Southern Research made a large investment in its High-Throughput Screening Center to ensure the highest quality screening services for research projects. The Center consists of a suite of laboratories designed for efficient screening of large compound libraries and has the capacity for screening a wide variety of assay types. The professional staff has in-depth experience and a demonstrated proficiency in transferring bench-top assays to the robotics platform and executing cell-based and biochemical screens. In addition to standard HTS assays, our research team is experienced in running yeast-based assays and assays that require either BSL2 or BSL3 containment.
Since 2006, the Center has processed more than 30 assays per year. One of the more notable aspects of this accomplishment is the breadth of assay types screened at the HTS Center. Over half of these assays were brought in from investigators outside of Southern Research. In addition to the typical assays run in the main lab, we have run nine BSL2 containment assays (2.4 million compounds screened) and three BSL3 containment assays (445,000 compounds screened). Our Select Agent clearance has allowed us to screen 239,000 compounds against highly pathogenic avian influenza.
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Total | |
| Total Number of Compounds Screened | 161,100 | 444,355 | 3,217,507 | 3,326,337 | 7,149,299 |
| Number of Assays Screened | 18 | 12 | 20 | 27 | 77 |
| Additional Assays Under Development | 4 | 6 | 13 | 7 | n/a |
| Number of Hits Confirmed in Dose Response | 40 | 2,044 | 4,096 | 15,643 | 21,823 |
The Center currently conducts five large screening programs for NIH as well as a number of other projects through academic or commercial collaborations.
With growing national concern over emerging infectious diseases, NIH looked to Southern Research to provide high-throughput screening in an effort to discover new antiviral therapeutics. Southern Research established HTS programs for SARS-CoV, highly pathogenic avian influenza, West Nile Virus, as well as influenza and respiratory syncytia viruses.
Southern Research has more than 20 years experience in screening for antibacterials. Our HTS program was initiated with screens in this field. Our Mycobacterium tuberculosis screening project is designed to develop and implement biochemical, target-specific Mtb drug screening assays in an HTS format. Investigators with novel M. tuberculosis biochemical targets are encouraged to submit proposed assays to NIAID for inclusion in the M. tuberculosis HTS target panel. In addition to the biochemical assays, we have implemented whole organism screens in the BSL3 against the virulent Rv strain of Mtb and the avirulent Ra strain. A summary of the program is available at http://www.taacf.org/SRI-HTS.htm.
Building on its 40 years of successful cancer drug discovery research, Southern Research established an HTS program in this field. We have from 5 to more than 10 assays in development at any one time, including cell-based, enzyme, high-content and other novel approaches.
To encourage the use of HTS for neurodegeneration research and drug discovery, NINDS awarded a contract to Southern Research in September 2002. Southern Research provides to the research community a resource for testing assays against a large, diverse collection of compounds. Assay proposals from scientists in the field are solicited by NINDS through notices published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.
In 2005 Southern Research was named one of nine national extramural screening centers. The Molecular Libraries Screening Centers Network (MLSCN), a component of the NIH Roadmap, is a national resource capable of providing automated high-throughput screening facilities, diverse compound libraries, as well as synthetic chemistry to improve the biological utility of these molecules as bioactive probes for in vitro, and potentially in vivo, studies of normal and abnormal physiology of cells, organs, model systems, and/or organisms. The ultimate goal of this program is to use as screens a variety of innovative biological, biophysical and cell-based assays for biological targets or processes for which there are limited selective and potent small molecule modulators available to the public. The MLSCN is soliciting applications from investigators who have developed innovative assays and are interested in having their assay used in the MLSCN to screen a large number of compounds. Visit the Southern Research Molecular Libraries Screening Center.
Having several active and ongoing collaborative research programs, Southern Research continues to seek academic, government and commercial research partnerships in HTS and drug discovery. We are interested in collaborating to pursue government funding for joint efforts including grant applications, competitive contracts, and SBIR/SITRs. From intellectual property income, Southern Research funds an in-house drug discovery program for the purpose of developing commercially relevant intellectual property. For more information on establishing a collaboration, contact David Harris at d.harris@southernresearch.org.
Lynn Rasmussen
Lucile White
News Coverage
Business Contact:
David R. Harris
Director of Strategic Business Development
205-581-2343
d.harris@southernresearch.org
High-Throughput Screening Center
HTS Informatics
HTS Equipment
HTS Publications
HTS Virtual Poster Session
Chemical Repository
Screening for Specific Anti-angiogenic Agents (117KB, PDF format)
High-throughput Screening for Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Inhibitors (233KB, PDF format)
Novel Inhibitors of the MRP1 Mediated Multidrug Resistance Phenotype as Identified by HigH-throughput Screening (234KB, PDF format)
Human Anti-Angiogenesis High Throughput Screening Assay in 384-Well Format (169KB, PDF format)
Data Processing and Quality Assurance in a Kinetic Enzyme Assay (253KB, PDF format)
The Southern Research Molecular Libraries Screening Center (124KB, PDF fromat)
Antituberculosis High Throughput Drug Screening at Southern Research Institute (144KB, PDF format)
A Cell Based High-Throughput Screening Approach for the Discovery of New Inhibitors of the Influenza H5N1 virus (232KB, PDF format)
A High-Throughput Screening Assay Against Bluetongue Virus (142KB, PDF format)
Adapting and Troubleshooting Cell Based Assays for High Throughput Screening (119KB, PDF format )
HTS Screening of a Renilla Based Assay Without the Use of Reader Based Injectors (1MB, PDF format)