Technical Platform

High-throughput screening of schistosomes
High-throughput screening of schistosomes
Compound testing is performed in a level 2 bio-safety containment facility which houses the various ecosystems required to support the parasite life-cycle (snail farm, human blood feeding systems etc) as well as associated instrumentation (automated liquid handling, imaging systems etc). Assays are performed in 384-well plates (50 larvae per well, triplicates) with a high-throughput liquid handling instrument for medium change, washing and feeding steps over a period of 14 days (for high-throughput screening) or longer. Wells are subject to automated image acquisition using standard light microscopy followed by elaborate image data analysis in collaboration with Fraunhofer IME ScreeningPort.