Do you know High throughput screening?

Introduction
High throughput screening (HTS), is a technology system based on the experimental method of molecular and cellular level, micro-plate form as experimental tool carrier, operating system to perform automated testing process, sensitive and rapid detection equipment to collect experiment data, computer doing the analysis of data and at the same time detecting tens of millions of samples. It has the characteristics of trace, rapid, sensitive and accurate.

Features
High-throughput screening is boring for it has tens of millions of samples to be detected everyday. The operate is prone to feel tired and make mistakes. Automation system consists of a computer and its operating software, automated pipetting devices, incubation centrifugal equipment and stack. Automation system has many advantages over manual operation. It controls the whole process by the use of computer and its software, and the programming process is clear and concise.

Application
Full use of medicinal resources
The high throughput screening depends on a large number of samples, making it possible for the large-scale drug screening. It not only improves the chances of drug discovery but also increased the quality of drug discovery.

Micro screening system
The high throughput screening uses screening models at cellular and molecular level. The sample amount is generally in micrograms (μg), thus saving sample resources as well as experimental material.

Highly automated operation
With the emphasis on high throughput drug screening continues to improve, operation equipment and testing instruments used have made considerable progress. Computer-controlled automation achieved, incidence of operate error reduced and efficiency and accuracy of the results improved.

Combination of multi-disciplinary theories and techniques
In high throughput screening process, not only general pharmacological techniques and theory were applied, but also closely bind to medicinal chemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, mathematics, microbiology, computer science and other subjects.

Simple blood test can tell your age?

In a recently published study in Scientific Reports, scientists from Uppsala University have developed a simple blood test technology that can help reveal the body’s biological age, that is can tell your age.

Professor UIf Gyllensten pointed out that with the popularity of new technologies, the future will easily bring incentive medical interventions or help change the lifestyle of patients and monitor the effect. As the aging of our body and different organs, lifestyle factors such as smoking and stress will affect the body’s molecular processes and the aging rate.

Today, herein researchers have developed a simple blood detection technology that can help reveal how lifestyle affects our body’s aging. The researchers analyzed the level of various proteins in the blood sample form 1,000 individuals. By analyzing the protein levels can help evaluate the body’s biological age, weight, height and hip. Protein expression in the blood can be affected by a series of lifestyles and certain factors will accelerate the aging of the body, while other factors will slow the aging processes.

The researchers said, “We found smoking, high BMI and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages to increase the predicted chronological age by 2-6 years, while consumption of fatty fish, drinking moderate amounts of coffee and exercising reduced the predicted age by approximately the same amount.” Thus, this method can be applied to dried blood spots and my be useful in forensic medicine to provide basic anthropometrical measures for an individual based on a biological evidence.