Cell-based multivariate phenotypic assays accelerate the identification of new drugs using disease-relevant models with disease-relevant endpoints. In the area of neurodegenerative disease, brain tissue samples - primary rodent cells as well as embryonic stem cell or iPS cell derived neuronal models - are used throughout the hit identification cascade from target validation to mechanistic studies.
Case studies are used to illustrate how high content assays of different complexity and throughput are applied through different stages of drug discovery for neuronal, synaptic and dendritic spine characterization approaches.
Moreover, novel informatics technologies that enable High Content Screening for phenotypic profiling and disease characterization will be presented.