The cellular revolution: Addressing drug discovery bottlenecks with cell-based imaging technology

The increasing amount of data arising from improvements in the technology of drug screening and related disciplines is succeeding only in moving the bottlenecks elsewhere. Technological developments in target validation, sample handling, data analysis, and lead verification are constantly being sought to maintain speed and reduce costs. The convergent evolution of cellular assay technologies and compatible bio-imaging systems promises to have significant impact on drug development by enabling earlier generation of physiologically relevant information. This is expected to facilitate drug development at many levels, thereby reducing both drug development costs and time to market. This article describes which types of targets are likely to benefit from cell-based assay formats, what imaging platforms are currently available to address this increasingly important aspect of drug development, and some of the instrumentation challenges that must be met in order to make cell-based screening a reality.