University home » Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences » School of Medical Sciences » Pharmacology » Discovery-1

High throughput and high content screening machine

Discovery-1 is an automated inverted fluorescence and brightfield microscope and image analysis system, which uses the MetaMorph software package.

Discovery-1 is revolutionising the study of the complex “orchestra” of signals that permeate between and within cells (Signal transduction research). This type of analysis is called High Content Analysis (HCA) which is best described as the combined use of high throughput (HTP) microscopy (Discovery-1) and HTP image analysis (MetaMorph) to quantify cellular information such as morphology, signal intensity and signal location in a cell or organelle within a cell. Discovery-1 and MetaMorph can measure both the level of a signalling molecule and its anatomical location within a cell very quickly, accurately and objectively. It has many important applications in signal transduction research such as:

1. Studying how cell membrane-bound receptors for hormones, neurotransmitters and drugs work by measuring at HTP, the movement of receptors from cell membranes into cells.
2. Measuring at HTP, the translocation of a transcription factor (eg: NFkB) from cytosol to nucleus.
3. Tracing and quantifying at HTP, the complex processes (axons and dendrites) of nerve cells.
4. Counting cells or organelles within cells at HTP.
5. Measuring cell death and cell division at HTP.

A number of in-house assays have also been developed including:

1. Counting and measuring the morphology of various types of cells.
2. Quantifying the migration of cells.
3. Measuring fat deposits in cells and tissues.
4. Measuring abnormally aggregated proteins.

A dedicated server has been set up in the Department of Pharmacology to store and archive the terabytes of information generated by Discovery-1. Discovery-1 and HCA analysis can be used in drug screening and chemical, genetic and functional genomic studies and is thus a powerful tool in biomedical and biological research.

Discovery 1 assays

In-house assays

Device potential

1. Fast and automatic acquisition of images from tissue culture plates
2. Efficient analysis of images
3. Several assays available to study cell properties
4. Ability to visualise and quantify biological entities unseen by the naked eye  

For more information, please see the Contacts page.

Visit the Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development