Finding a Reliable Hit: Optimized tools for reproducible drug screening

SESSION DATES:

• Session 1 | Oct 31, 1-3pm | Assay Automation and Quantification - From Benchtop to High Throughput Screening
• Session 2 | Nov 8, 1-3pm | Optimized Experimental and Analytical Tools for Reproducible Drug-Response Studies
• Session 3 | Nov 14, 1-3pm | Robust Methods for Drug Combination Studies

LOCATION: TMEC 106 Learning Studio
*There is no remote option for this course.

REGISTRATION CLOSED

Course Description

Assaying cellular responses to compounds is a fundamental aspect of the development and characterization of therapeutic molecules and the investigation of drug mechanism of action. These assays are routinely conducted on the benchtop in basic research and used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry for drug discovery. However, accurate drug response measurements and their analysis are not as straightforward as they might seem.

This nanocourse will introduce the design of cell response assays and high-throughput small molecule screens as well as relevant data analysis methods. We will present experimental and computational methods for generating reproducible dose-response measurements across cell lines, as well as computational approaches to quantifying the sensitivity of cells to single drugs and drug combinations.

There are three 2-hour sessions in total. Students will engage in small group discussions and case studies in class, and solve one problem set with real data with support from the instructor team.

Course Objectives

1. Describe the design principles of microplate assays for compound screening
2. Identify challenges in designing and executing reproducible small molecule screening experiments
3. Understand the concepts behind growth rate inhibition (GR) metric and apply GR metrics to quantify antiproliferative drug activity in a reproducible manner
4. Analyze and interpret data from high-throughput screening and dose response studies
5. Recognize online tools and resources available to the HMS Community

Course Director: Jennifer Smith, Ph.D., Director of ICCB-Longwood Screening Facility and Discovery Service Center Laboratory

Instructors:

• Jennifer Smith, Ph.D., Director of ICCB-Longwood Screening Facility and Discovery Service Center Laboratory
• Caitlin Mills, Ph.D., Director of Preclinical Pharmacology, Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology
• Nicholas Clark, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology

Education Fellow: Han Xu, Ph.D., Education Fellow at Harvard Program in Therapeutic Science

This course is limited to 40 participants.

Priority will be given to graduate students taking the course for credit. In order to receive credit, students must attend all sessions and complete the assignments. Postdocs may register and will be granted access to the course as space allows.