The High-Content Analysis Award (HCA Award)

The first GE Healthcare HCA Award, supported by BioTechniques, set out to uncover how high-content analysis (HCA) has revolutionized the quality, type, and quantity of results achieved across disciplines, from basic research to drug development and toxicity testing.

High quality entries were received from researchers using the IN Cell Analyzer system, which combines automated cell imaging with analytical tools, allowing researchers to increase productivity and gain deeper insights leading to more informed decisions when compared to more traditional approaches. The entries were reviewed by an expert scientific panel comprising leading scientists and technology experts in the field of high-content cellular imaging and analysis. Click here to meet the judges.

The unanimous winner was Dr Michael Freeley, from Trinity College Dublin, who investigates how white blood cells (T lymphocytes) move in the body during an immune response. Dr Freeley and his co-researchers used the IN Cell Analyzer from GE Healthcare to measure a wide range of morphology and fluorescent parameters associated with signaling pathways and proteins that regulate T lymphocyte migration. Dr Freeley demonstrated that using multiple parameters could increase the sensitivity of hit selection when screening a large number of cell types, plus reduce the number of false positives.