Drug discovery labs have long benefited from automated equipment. Eliminating the highly-repetitive processes, such as liquid pipetting, involved in high throughput screening were some of the earliest wins for lab automation.
As the drug discovery market grows exponentially, to reach a value of $110.4bn by 2025, significant investment in automation is required to help labs achieve the scale and quality needed to keep up with the pace.
However, much like in other areas of science, the automation that has typically been available to drug discovery has been inflexible. Labs have often had to plan their infrastructure around automation equipment, and paid out large sums. Yet when their requirements have changed, their automation solutions have been unable to change with them.
Thankfully, today, more flexible automation solutions are becoming available.
We sit down with John Vincent, Senior Scientist at Medicines Discovery Catapult, and an expert with experience running high-throughput screening, to learn about how flexible automation can enhance drug discovery processes.
Greater flexibility allows labs to automate multiple workflows
Automation solutions that can be flexible around changing workflows are necessary for drug discovery labs where “the requirements for a complete workforce may fluctuate over time,” Vincent explains. “Depending on your lab’s infrastructure, the equipment and level of automation available, you may be able to screen hundreds of thousands of compounds with just one or two people, supported by automation and robotics.”