Informatics Needs for Screening: Part Two

Many companies today are operating a balanced approach to target and phenotypic assays, to try to optimize for disease relevance and throughput. Last week my blog post set the scene on the HCS landscape, but with new phenotypic assay formats and platforms becoming available each year, what consideration needs to be given to future proofing solutions?

Key areas to look at when it comes to HCS data management technology in the lab:

Features: will the solution solve the specific problems I am looking to fix?

When making software decisions in the screening space, flexibility must be a key consideration of any purchase. New assay types are being developed all the time, can your chosen solution be adapted to future needs?

Price: is this technology affordable?

What is the cost to you if your organization adopts a new assay format?

Affordability of the solution is extremely important, as with any purchasing decisions made in the lab, but making sure the technology delivers on all your requirements is a must. Opt for a solution which addresses all of your data management concerns, from capture and analysis to sharing and collaboration. It should grow with the organization to ensure a sound, future-proof investment.

Integration: will this tool work with my other instruments and lab technology?

Integration with other lab tools should be included as standard and will enable users to quickly and easily import the data, and images of that data, from across the lab. Flexibility to then select the features required for screening, prevents the need for multi-stage processes and saves time, with images and data shown alongside each other for analysis.

A case in point: Inventiva

The right software can support and streamline the drug discovery process. Check out this recent article in the Financial Times on how Inventiva has sped up analysis of both traditional target and phenotypic assays tenfold, having migrated from legacy tech to ActivityBase.