Drug Discovery for Schistosomiasis: Hit and Lead Compounds Identified in a Library of Known Drugs by Medium-Throughput Phenotypic Screening

Abstract

To accelerate the identification of novel anti-schistosomals, we have developed a partially automated screen workflow that interfaces schistosomula with microtiter plate-formatted compound libraries. The workflow has identified various compounds and drugs as hits in vitro and leads, with the prescribed oral efficacy, in vivo. Efforts to improve throughput, automation, and rigor of the screening workflow are ongoing.