NanoStore: a concept for logistical improvements of compound handling in high-throughput screening

Small molecule screening, the systematic encounter of biology space with chemical space, has provoked the emergence of a whole industry that recreates itself by constant iterative improvements to this process. The authors describe an approach to tackle the problem for one of the most time-consuming steps in the execution of a screening campaign, namely, the reformatting of high-throughput screening test compounds from master plates to daughter assay plates used in the execution of the screen. Through an engineered storage procedure, they prepare plates ahead of the screening process with the respective compounds in a ready-to-use format. They show the biological inertness of the method and how it facilitates efficient recovery of compound activity. This uncoupling of normally interconnected processes provides time and compound savings, avoids repeated freeze-thaw cycles of compound solutions, and removes the problems associated with the DMSO sensitivity of certain assays types.