High-throughput screening’s ability to perform thousands of experiments efficiently and under carefully controlled conditions has made it an important tool for basic and translational biological research. At Columbia University, the JP Sulzberger Columbia Genome Center and the Chemical Probe Synthesis Facility provide a flexible platform for researchers interested in applying high-throughput experimentation in their work. On December 17, 2012, the Genome Center hosted a symposium to spotlight its capabilities in high-throughput screening, to explain the important role that synthetic chemistry plays in high-throughput screening, and to describe some recent research projects at Columbia that have utilized these tools.

As High-Throughput Screening Core Scientific Director Charles Karan explained, the Genome Center operates a suite of advanced technologies for automated liquid handling, robotic assay implementation, and high-throughput, high-content microscopy. The Genome Center also offers Columbia University researchers access to several large collections for conducting high-throughput screens. These include the Columbia Cell Line Encyclopedia, which includes 850 cancer cell lines collected from around the world, as well as a chemical diversity library curated by researchers in the Chemical Probe Synthesis Facility. This “tool chest” gives Columbia investigators access to a pre-selected set of compounds that have been predicted to result in the highest quality potential hits. Karan also reported that the Genome Center recently negotiated an arrangement with Sigma Aldrich to give access to the company’s shRNA clones to researchers at Columbia at greatly discounted rates.