Accelerating Cancer Discovery Through High-Throughput Screening: Resources, Technologies, and Collaborative Opportunities at The Wertheim UF Scripps HTMS Center

The translation of fundamental cancer discoveries into new therapeutics requires access to advanced technologies, specialized expertise , and multidisciplinary collaboration. This presentation will provide an overview of The Wertheim UF Scripps High-Throughput Molecular Screening (HTMS) Center's capabilities and discuss how academic investigators can leverage these resources to accelerate cancer research and drug discovery, including assay development, high-throughput and high-content screening, chemical biology, hit validation, mechanism-of-action studies, and early lead optimization. Emphasis will be placed on approaches directly relevant to cancer research, including phenotypic screening, target-based discovery, functional genomics-enabled screening strategies, drug repurposing, combination therapy discovery, and high-content imaging. Representative collaborative projects will demonstrate how these tools can be applied to identify novel therapeutic targets, discover first-in-class chemical matter, elucidate mechanisms of action, and overcome therapeutic resistance. Examples drawn from drug discovery programs at UF Scripps will illustrate how integrated discovery teams can…