Fig. 3.

High Content Screening approach and hit interpretation. Cell lines can be co-cultured or screened in parallel. Compound effects common to all cell lines are nonspecific while effects found in only one line are cancer or mutation specific. ‘Effects’ can be found in a wide variety of cell and nuclear morphologies at selected time points given the multiparametric nature of high content screening. Iterative rounds of genome engineering can be used to verify drug targets and determine mechanism of action. These phenotypic screens provide richer information; but are more difficult to implement than biochemical assays used in target based drug discovery.