Please contact Technical Director, Eugene Xu, PhD, for an initial consultation when planning a screen.

• 1. Contact is made between collaborating labs and the CSC. The discussions mostly will entail topics such as goals of the screen, assay details and readout, and feasibility of the assay adapted to a screen.
  2. A representative from the collaborating lab is assigned to act as a liaison between the CSC and the lab. This representative is responsible for performing assay development, maintaining communication, and assisting with troubleshooting for the screen. This person will also be assigned a representative from the CSC who will act as the project manager for the screen.
  3. The assay must be performed in either 96 or 384 well format in plates that are SBS compliant and automation friendly. The CSC is able to provide recommendations for plate types based upon assay and readout parameters.
  4. The CSC offers three different readers for low or high content screening assays: the BioTek Synergy NEO2, the Molecular Devices ImageXpress Micro, and the TTP Labtech Acumen Explorer. The assay readout must be compatible with one of these readers. Once assay development has been completed in the collaborating lab, the assay will be validated in the CSC; most importantly, using the reader(s) in the CSC.
  5. The assay will be adapted and validated to use the automation in the CSC. During this time, the representative from the collaborating lab will assist with any assay troubleshooting that may arise.
  6. Screen is performed in the CSC.

We appreciate your acknowledgement of core facility contributions in publications. Sample acknowledgment language:

We thank The University of Chicago Cellular Screening Center (RRID:SCR_017914), especially [staff name], for their assistance with [service/technology].