Discussion

AstraZeneca’s High Throughput Screening (HTS) group has adopted a new analysis tool called Genedata Screener®. To make the most of this software the HTS group require assay ready plates (ARPs) to have the control samples in the same plates (onboard) as the compounds being tested.
The existing Compound Management (CM) group platform had the hardware to enable delivery of onboard controls but no software solution in place within the system. As a result it was decided to implement new software that would drive the existing hardware – the chosen product was a customized version of Peak Analysis & Automation’s (PAA) Batch Manager software.
To supplement this, a new ordering system was designed and developed to replicate and enhance the functionality of the existing ordering software.
Enhancements designed into the new system were:

• Grouping orders by project.
• Visualization of progress within a project’s screening campaign.
• Ability to create multiple orders and submit them based on desired number of plates to screen.
• Flexibility to allow test parameters to be edited.
• Scope to add capacity and demand modeling visualization.

As the ordering software is in-house it allows for rapid enhancements to adapt to changing customer demands.
The combination of the hardware already in place and the new software packages allowed for delivery of a solution that was robust, flexible, able to cope with the high throughputs demanded by HTS while maintaining the compound integrity of the existing solution.