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  • Perspective
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Image-based chemical screening

Nature Chemical Biology volume 3, pages 461–465 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Technological advances have made it feasible to conduct high-throughput small-molecule screens based on visual phenotypes of individual cells, using automated imaging and analysis. These screens are rapidly moving from being small, proof-of-principle tests to robust and widespread screens of hundreds of thousands of compounds. Automated imaging screens maximize the information obtained in an initial screen and improve the ability to select high-quality leads. In this Perspective, I highlight the key steps necessary for conducting a high-throughput image-based chemical compound screen.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: A sampling of image-based phenotypes scored in recent screens.
Figure 3: An example of an unusual, subtle phenotype recently screened in our group and scored automatically using CellProfiler for image analysis and CellVisualizer for machine learning–based automated scoring (raw screening images are shown).

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Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks M. Vokes for research and artwork, and N. Tolliday and L. Verplank for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anne E. Carpenter is at the Broad Institute Imaging Platform, 7 Cambridge Center, Room 6011, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. anne@broad.mit.edu,

    Anne E Carpenter

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Carpenter, A. Image-based chemical screening. Nat Chem Biol 3, 461–465 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.2007.15

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