Design and implementation of high-content imaging platforms: lessons learned from end user-developer collaboration

Automated high-content screening and analysis (HCS/HCA) technology solutions have become indispensable in expediting the pace of drug discovery. Because of the complexity involved in designing, building, and validating HCS/HCA platforms, it is important to design, build, and validate a HCS/HCA platform before it is actually needed. Managed properly, collaboration between technology providers and end users in research is essential in accelerating development of the hardware and software of new HCS/HCA platforms before they become commercially available. Such a collaboration results in the cost effective creation of new technologies that meet specific and customized industrial requirements. This review outlines the history of, and considerations relevant to, the development of the Cytometrix Profiling System by Cytokinetics, Inc. and the "Complete Imaging Solution" for high-content screening, developed by Molecular Devices Corporation (MDC) (now MDS Analytical Technologies), from original conception and testing of various components, to multiple development cycles from 1998 to the present, and finally to market consolidation.