High-Throughput Screening at McMaster University: Automation in Academe

In December 2001, the McMaster HTS Lab officially opened its doors. Since that time, we have made significant strides in demonstrating that university-based, high-throughput screening (HTS) is a viable proposition for academic scientists seeking to discover novel small molecule probes of biological function. Although the lab has been running screens for just over two years, the process of designing, building and maintaining the lab has been on-going for more than four years. As high-throughput screening technology moves from the industrial sector to the academic and small biotech sectors, strategies for setting up a successful, highly flexible HTS lab on a limited budget becomes very important. In the current communication, we outline some of the considerations in setting up the lab and some of our experiences to date with screening and automation in academe.