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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

High Content Screening in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Published on: January 6, 2012
Drug screening for Huntington's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders
1Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, 614 Fairchild Building, New York, NY 10027, USA. hv2108@columbia.edu
Abstract:
Devising therapies for neurodegenerative diseases remains a major challenge due to the complex etiology, prolonged disease course and the paucity of validated targets. These factors make it difficult to model neurodegenerative diseases in a manner amenable to large-scale screening. However recent developments in automation, combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput phenotypic assays have presented new opportunities for discovering small molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. This review focuses on novel in vitro and phenotypic screens for Huntington's disease and a few other neurodegenerative diseases. The lessons learned from these screens and the potential of the small molecules identified as therapeutic leads are discussed.
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