Cell painting technology holds promise for drug discovery

The Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer of the Université de Montréal (IRIC) high-throughput screening platform has been awarded $583,654 by Quebec's Ministère de l'Économie, de l'Innovation et de l'Énergie, following a call for projects launched as part of the Quebec Research and Innovation Investment Strategy 2022-2027 (SQRI2). The funded project aims to integrate real-time cell painting and artificial intelligence-based phenotypic classification technology for the discovery of new drugs.

Model pathological processes to accelerate drug discovery

Live observation of the morphology of cells exposed to different experimental conditions: that's what real-time cell painting is all about. To achieve this, fluorescent probes are used to mark cellular sub-compartments. Using a “high-content” screening approach, images of the labeled cells are then acquired for each experimental condition studied. Any type of cell culture can be analyzed using this approach, including organoids (three-dimensional cell models that mimic organ architecture and function).

As thousands of experimental conditions can be tested in parallel, and the use of live cells considerably increases the number of data points generated, the quantity of images to be analyzed is considerable. The integration of artificial intelligence tools based on machine learning will make it possible to process this mass of data and classify the cell morphologies observed.

This real-time cell painting technology can be used for multiple drug discovery applications: identification of therapeutic targets, screening of compound libraries, optimization of compounds, or characterization of compound mechanisms of action.

“By making it possible to study hundreds of parameters simultaneously, this approach has the potential to accelerate drug discovery programs, improve candidate selection and thus drastically reduce development costs,” emphasizes Manon Valiquette, IRIC's Director of Scientific Platform Operations.

The grant, which will support the highly qualified personnel of IRIC's high-throughput screening platform for a period of three years, will strengthen the services offered at the Institute, at UdeM and in Quebec.

“High-throughput screening techniques are increasingly integrating the use of complex biological models that are more predictive of therapeutic effects,” says Simon Mathien, head of IRIC's high-throughput screening platform. “Real-time cell painting is the most recent iteration of this technical evolution. By integrating this technology at IRIC, we enable our research community to be at the cutting edge of new screening approaches.”