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An introduction to HCA

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Introduction	What Is HCA?	Why Use HCA?	Applications

Benefits for a wide variety of cellular assays

HCA can offer an extra dimension, whatever your cellular research involves:

	•		Increase throughput and productivity - Assays typically take much less time than traditional techniques, enabling more data to be produced faster

	•		Investigate in breadth - Hypotheses can be rigorously tested by correlating the effects observed and quantified directly in cells with results from other techniques

	•		Improve data quality - Single cell analysis in multiple wells enables easy quantification, with multiple controls providing increased data confidence and statistically relevant results

	•		Investigate in depth - Automated, multiplexed imaging assays in live cells enable non-destructive monitoring of complex signaling events as they happen, as well as analyzing proteins, nucleic acids and cell morphology in a single experiment.

The benefits of HCA apply to a wide variety of cellular assays including cell signaling, toxicology, RNAi knockdown, cell differentiation and morphology, cell cycle, neurology, protein trafficking, and receptor activation. However, with the increased use of HCA in mainstream cellular research, the possibilities of the technology are constantly expanding.

More information in less time

HCA is a natural evolution of cellular research, enabling you to perform more complex experiments on a larger scale, with more controls and replicates in a shorter time. The information-rich environment it provides allows you to be more productive in your scientific objectives.

	•		Learn more - Even a single parameter molecular readout (e.g. protein expression or phosphorylation level) can be assessed in combination with associated changes in cell number and morphology

	•		Gain new insights - Multiplex assays to provide a higher level of understanding. Ask questions that are difficult or impossible to address using traditional biochemical assays: link protein binding to cell cycle behavior, correlate phosphorylation changes in one protein to the subcellular localization of another protein

	•		Re-interrogate data - Re-analyze stored images whenever required to answer new questions as they arise during the course of research

Multiplexing assays - trabecular meshwork cells stained for DNA (blue), actin (red) and paxillin in foacl adhesions (green). Image courtesy of C. Laetherm, Aerie Pharmaceuticals

HCA features compared to other techniques

While understanding more about the working cell is a common goal for cell biologists, the individual techniques used in cellular research are very different from each other in terms of assay design and data output. The table illustrates some of the key differences between HCA and some traditional research techniques.