Drug discovery requires screening a large number of drug candidates for their efficacy, cytotoxicity, and possible side effects. This screening process is labor- and time-consuming. In this application note, we propose a new high-throughput drug screening platform by leveraging S.NEST, which is a microbioreactor capable of using real-time monitoring of dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH to determine oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) throughout cell culture and treatment. This platform eliminates traditional endpoint cell viability assays and provide prompt indications of the cell growth index, significantly improving the efficiency of the drug screening process.
By monitoring cellular metabolic activity and viability in real-time, we can accurately and rapidly evaluate drug candidates without the need for pre-testing to determine
treatment and sampling timepoints. This platform therefore has the potential to streamline drug screening, enhance efficiency, and advance the field of drug discovery.