High Content Screening & Analysis

High-Content Analysis (HCA) or High-Content Screening (HCS) combines high-throughput automated imaging and analysis to extract quantitative multi-parametric data at the single-cell level. Originally developed as a complementary technology to traditional biochemical high-throughput screening (HTS) in drug discovery, today high-content screening is established in a far broader area of the life science space as an unbiased imaging method to assess cellular function.

High-Content Imaging (HCI) is typically defined as lower throughput automated microscopy (<100,000 samples or data points) compared to high-content screening. However, high-content imaging is often used interchangeable with the terms high-content screening and high-content analysis.¹

High-content screening offers a number of advantages over traditional techniques:

• More information from cellular samples
  Fully automated imaging and unbiased quantitative image analysis exploits the full potential of microscopy, improving your lab’s throughput and productivity.
• More meaningful results
  Screening can be performed in more physiologically and biologically relevant systems than in classical biochemical assays.
• More questions answered simultaneously
  Data sets are more information-rich compared to non-imaging read-outs, allowing a number of questions to be answered simultaneously.

Reference:

• Buchser, William, et al. "Assay development guidelines for image-based high content screening, high content analysis and high content imaging." Assay guidance manual [Internet] (2014).