Automated screening accelerates rare disease drug discovery

Researchers at Purdue University are accelerating drug discovery for rare and neglected parasitic diseases using the WELLJET dispenser stacker from Integra Biosciences, enabling faster, more consistent and higher-throughput compound screening.

By integrating automated liquid handling into their workflows, the team has been able to standardise complex screening assays, improve reproducibility and significantly expand experimental scale - addressing long-standing bottlenecks in early-stage drug discovery.

Despite their severe and often life-threatening impact, amoebic infections such as Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) remain under-researched, with limited treatment options available. Dr Christopher A. Rice, Assistant Professor at Purdue University, leads a research group focused on free-living amoebae that can cause both brain infections and vision-threatening disease.

“These parasites are responsible for some of the deadliest infections we know, yet awareness, diagnostics and treatment options lag far behind,” said Rice. “Our aim is to identify safer, more effective therapies that improve the quality of life and give patients a better chance of survival.”

Since establishing the lab in 2022, the Rice Research Group has screened around half a million compounds across multiple amoeba species. Automation has been central to achieving this scale.

“The WELLJET dispenser stacker has allowed us to scale up our screening pipeline,” Rice explained. “We can now process large compound libraries efficiently while maintaining consistency across experiments. Using the same drug batches, stocks, concentrations and protocols reduces variability and allows us to generate directly comparable datasets.”

That level of standardisation is proving critical for advancing research into diseases that have historically received little attention. The ability to run larger, more reliable screens is helping the team move closer to identifying promising therapeutic candidates and understanding resistance earlier in the discovery process.

“Our goal is to improve outcomes for patients with AK and give those affected by these brain infections a higher chance of survival,” Rice added. “If we can develop safer, more selective drugs, we can start to change outcomes for diseases that are currently almost always fatal.”

More information online