High Throughput Techniques in Target and Drug Discovery
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3451-13-00-00 
Enrollment deadline: 15/07/2013
Date and time09.09.2013, at: 09:00 - 13.09.2013, at: 17:00
Regular seats16
Course fee7,800.00 kr.
LecturersJesper Mosolff Mathiesen
Hans Bräuner
ECTS credits5.50
Contact personAnne Vognsen    E-mail address: anne.vognsen@bric.ku.dk
Enrolment Handling/Course OrganiserPhD administration     E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Aim and content
Course objectives
To provide theoretical and hands-on experience with high throughput techniques used to identify novel
targets involved in biological functions and the novel pharmacological tool compounds acting on such
targets.

General contents and topics
Modern biological and pharmacological analyses are increasingly applying a broad range of high
throughput techniques in order to identify novel targets involved in various biological functions and the
novel pharmacological tool compounds that either activate or inhibit such targets. Many of these
techniques are based on detecting fluorescent molecules by either microscopy (e.g. antibodies labelled
with fluorescent probes or proteins tagged with green-fluorescent protein, GFP) or various plate-readers
(e.g. detecting fluorescence resonance energy transfer [FRET], time-resolved fluorescence [TRF] and
calcium or membrane potential sensitive dyes). Automation and coupling to robotic platforms have
enabled screening of large libraries of e.g. siRNA/shRNA (used to identify novel targets) and
compounds (used to identify pharmacological tool compounds).
The course will cover these techniques through lectures, practical exercises and student presentations of
scientific articles on the application of high throughput techniques in a biological/pharmacological
context.

The lectures will cover:
State-of-the-art high throughput techniques
The logistics of handling large libraries of nucleic acids and compounds
Computational analyses of large data sets from screening programs
The practical exercises will cover:
High throughput microscopy
High throughput pharmacological assays using:
measurement of intracellular Ca2+ levels and membrane potential by fluorescence probes
measurement of intracellular cAMP by TRF and FRET
Use of software to evaluate datasets from screening programs

General information
The course will be offered as an intensive 5-day course and will comprise laboratory exercises &
demonstrations, lectures covering current topics in high throughput techniques, student presentations of
scientific articles and an assignment related to the course topic to be presented on the last day. It will be
possible for participants to discuss topics/problems in high throughput techniques with staff and fellow
students during the course.
Evaluation: A written report of the experiments performed and the assignment must be submitted two
weeks after the course. Participants will prepare a presentation of a scientific article and the assignment.
Course leaders will evaluate the presentations and accompanying slides, and the report. Furthermore,
participants must be present and demonstrate a satisfactory level of activity during 90 per cent of the
course. A grade of passed/not passed will be given.

Experienced experimentalists from the Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), and the
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Copenhagen
will supervise the lab course. Participants will be supplied with study materials consisting of notes and
scientific publications.

Dates:
9/9 from 9.00-17.00 to 13/9 from 9.00-17.00