Stability of Screening Assays
It is important to maintain consistent data quality when screening results are uploaded to an assay registration system for use by the rest of the R&D organization. Screeners run assay stability controls, reference compounds, plate controls, and apply other techniques to perform data normalization and compute QC metrics within an experiment. However, for assays that are in use for more than a few days another aspect of assay stability comes into play. Assay stability over time - weeks or months.
Results obtained over a period of several weeks or months may use a different compound lot, be run by different lab personnel, and also be affected by other changes in the lab environment. The differences may not be very obvious until standards are plotted on a control chart. Hopefully the standard shows a clean horizontal line indicating no changes. In practice however two other scenarios are seen: an abrupt change for a time then back to "the usual" when for example a different (substitute) operator ran the assay, or a steady drift upwards or downwards when for instance the reagents deteriorate in storage.
Review Results in Context
For a lab that services the rest of a pharma company or worse external customers, uncertain assay stability effectively increases "error bars" on their reported data and leads to poor data quality. Unfortunately the "noise" is not random and the subsequent data inaccuracies are not random, derailing the hard work of everyone in the lab.
Note that commercial software for the registration of assay results does not - to put it mildly - offer a straightforward way to track assay stability metrics. Screeners have to invent their own methods using Excel, Prism, etc. In our experience with several R&D labs, conscious attention of screeners to assay stability (supported by their management in the laborious development of ad-hoc tools in Excel etc.) resulted in measurably improved data quality.
An Ounce of Prevention
Saber Informatics can help your lab establish straightforward yet very effective metrics of assay stability to catch issues before they make way into reported data. Objective and actionable metrics based on real-time assay results shown in the context of historical measurements in the same assay, under the same conditions. Metrics clearly displayed on a graph that can be automatically included in a testset review notification or accessible via a link in a report.
We offer quality commercial software that will integrate with your current system (ActivityBase) or can be run standalone. It runs in a web browser so no desktop installation is needed.
Feel free to call or email us to start a conversation: we bring to the table extensive practical experience in the field as an active practitioner, strict client confidentiality, and an industry insider perspective. We will listen and help.
