About this webinar
The automation of drug discovery has advanced considerably, driven by the need for enhanced efficiency, reproducibility, and scalability in high-throughput screening workflows. In this study, a collaboration between SPT Labtech, Automata, GSK, and researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, employed cutting-edge automation tools, including the dragonfly® discovery liquid handling system by SPT Labtech and Automata’s LINQ platform, to conduct a high-throughput enzymatic screen targeting a vulnerable pathway in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). This effort was part of a broader initiative to discover novel antibiotics against Mtb.
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mtb, remains a global health emergency, with 10.8 million cases and 1.25 million deaths reported in 2023. The rise of drug-resistant strains underscores the urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches. Targeting an essential enzyme in the Mtb amino acid biosynthetic pathway, a repurposing screen of 6,000 compounds was conducted building upon prior GSK efforts targeting the human orthologue. This enabled assessment of potency, selectivity, and microbiological efficacy.
The findings accelerated the identification of promising Mtb enzyme inhibitors and provided a strong foundation for further medicinal chemistry efforts. Additionally, iterative refinement of the automated workflow provided critical insights into the potential of robotic platform integration for high-throughput drug discovery.
Key learning objectives:
- Introduce the technical capabilities of the Automata LINQ platform for end-to-end automated biochemical screening and SPT Labtech’s dragonfly® discovery for fast and precise liquid handling.
- Applications for laboratory automation in TB drug discovery research.
- Understanding the development and optimization timeline and workflow for scaling up a time sensitive, kinetic, enzyme assay on an automated high-throughput scale.
- Explore the challenges and benefits of automation for drug discovery workflows in academia.
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Meet the speakers
Huda Khalaf
Laboratory Research Scientist - The Francis Crick Institute, Structural Biology STP
Huda Khalaf is a Laboratory Research Scientist in the Francis Crick Institute’s Structural Biology STP, where she works on antibiotic drug discovery targeting Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Huda joined the Crick in October 2022 as part of her MRes in Structural Biology at Imperial College London, later transitioning to her current role in September 2023. Her work integrates structural biology, biophysics and high-throughput screening techniques, contributing to the efforts of multidisciplinary research teams at the Crick and industry partners such as GSK.
Prior to her MRes degree, Huda obtained a BSc in Biological Sciences with Honours in Biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh. Here she began her research career in drug discovery from a computational standpoint in the lab of Dr Douglas Houston, where she went on to co-author a publication for a novel ligand-based virtual screening technique. These days her work is more focused on wet lab pharmaceutical research with expertise in protein crystallography and enzyme kinetics. Huda’s work has supported the development of novel tools and insights in drug discovery and she continues to collaborate with teams across academia and industry to advance translational research.
Daniel Leonce
Senior Automation Specialist - The Francis Crick Institute, Genomics STP
Dan Leonce, a Cambridgeshire native, is a Senior Automation Specialist at the Francis Crick Institute. Since joining the institute, he has worked with the Genomics STP and the Covid pipeline, while broadening his collaborations to include multiple STPs, research groups, and industry partners. His efforts have enhanced the scale, scope, and efficiency of research across the Crick.
Dan’s foundation in automation was built during his time at the Sanger Institute, where he was part of the Single Cell Core Facility and helped develop a high-throughput single-cell pipeline for the Human Cell Atlas project using both integrated and standalone platforms. At EMBL Heidelberg, he expanded his expertise in the Steinmetz lab, contributing to diverse projects such as the AML transcriptomics pipeline (MutaSeq) and large-scale CRISPR screens (Tap-seq).
Dan studied Genetics at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, laying the groundwork for his career in genomic research and automation.