Multiplex cytological profiling assay to measure diverse cellular states.

Computational methods for image-based profiling are under active development, but their success hinges on assays that can capture a wide range of phenotypes. We have developed a multiplex cytological profiling assay that "paints the cell" with as many fluorescent markers as possible without compromising our ability to extract rich, quantitative profiles in high throughput. The assay detects seven major cellular components. In a pilot screen of bioactive compounds, the assay detected a range of cellular phenotypes and it clustered compounds with similar annotated protein targets or chemical structure based on cytological profiles. The results demonstrate that the assay captures subtle patterns in the combination of morphological labels, thereby detecting the effects of chemical compounds even though their targets are not stained directly. This image-based assay provides an unbiased approach to characterize compound- and disease-associated cell states to support future probe discovery.

Using ChemBank to probe chemical biology.

ChemBank (http://chembank.broad.harvard.edu/) is a public, Web-based informatics environment. ChemBank stores and makes freely available data derived from small molecules and small-molecule screens and has resources for relating and studying these data. Currently, ChemBank stores information on hundreds of thousands of small molecules and hundreds of biomedically relevant assays performed at the Broad Institute screening center. Web-based analysis tools are available within ChemBank to study the relationships between small molecules, cell measurements, and cell states. This unit demonstrates the use of ChemBank data to ask and answer questions relating to chemical biology and screening experiments contained within ChemBank.