Automated High-Throughput Screening HTS

Hierarchical (Multi-Tiered) Screening Approaches (HMTS) 

Level 1. Most General Screen - Fast and Simple. This type of screen eliminates the majority of negative candidates, and preferentially does not eliminate potential positives. 

Level 2. Intermediate Screen(s). This step generally employs more specific sub- 

Level 3. Specific Screen. Slowest and most accurate. This type of screen gener- 

Our goals were to develop a series of esterases that offered a range of substrate specificities, enhanced enzyme stability, and were useful in a variety of synthetic chemistry applications on a large scale. At the onset of this project, the existing commercial enzymes did not fully address the need for different substrate specificities, improved stereoselectivity,stability under industrial reaction conditions, and availabihty in large quantities. We also wanted the enzymes to be produced at high levels and have high overall activity. 

---

However, many recent instruments are still not considered satisfactory, since professional developers in the field of high-throughput screening (HTS) want to use the full performance of the latest generation of robots and computers for automation. This results in new instrumental developments, like the possibility of reading not only 96, but 384 or even 1536 wells plates as well as DNA chips, very rapidly (in a minute or so) and repeatedly without any mechanical failures. Hence, in the eyes of company scientists developing new assays, many present-day instruments still correspond to an intermediate stage of development. For research laboratory scientists, on the other hand, the actual equipment offers excellent performance. 

---