What is high-throughput screening (HTS)?

High-throughput screening (HTS) leverages the use of lab automation (liquid handling, robotics, sensitive detectors and data processing/control software to regulate the end-to-end process) to quickly assay the biological/biochemical activity of large numbers of drug-like compounds (10,000-100,000/day) and rapidly identify active compounds, antibodies or genes which modulate a specific bimolecular pathway. For throughput purposes, assays are often run in parallel using 96-, 384- or 1536-well microtier plates.