Bioscience Screening

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

The Bioscience Screening Shared Resource provides researchers at the Stanford Cancer Institute with the ability to run high-throughput chemical, siRNA, cDNA and high-content screens for the purpose of drug discovery and target identification. The Bioscience Screening Shared Resource incorporates instrumentation (purchased with NCRR NIH Instrumentation grants S10RR019513 and S10RR026338), databases, and compound and molecular libraries to allow cancer researchers to discover novel molecular targets and identify small molecules that modulate them. Among the instrumentation in the Bioscience Screening Shared Resource is a High-Content fluorescence microplate imager with live cell and phase contrast/brightfield options, advanced microplate 96- and 384-well head pipetting liquid handlers, and fluorescence, luminescence, and absorbance multimode microplate readers. The facility has over 130,000 small molecules for compound screens, 15,000 human cDNAs for genomic screens, and whole genome siRNA libraries targeting the human genome (the siARRAY whole human genome siRNA library from Dharmacon targeting 21,000 human genes) and the mouse genome (Qiagen mouse whole genome siRNA set V1 against 22,000 genes). Access to the equipment and services are provided efficiently and cost-effectively through the Bioscience Screening Shared Resource. Prior to the facility?s establishment, the cost of doing the majority of these types of experiments at Stanford was prohibitively high. Today, SCI investigators can perform high-throughput screens and use state-of-the art screening equipment for their research on the medical school campus, allowing the discovery of novel cancer targets and potential new therapeutics. This shared resource makes every effort to bring in new technologies, such as whole genome siRNA knockdown screens, and other services to meet the evolving needs of SCI members. In the past five years, investigators from all of the SCI Research Programs have used Bioscience Screening equipment and services for their studies, resulting in important translational discoveries and many publications.