SLAS Discovery Unveils New 3D Biology Protocols Volume

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The latest volume of SLAS Discovery, a journal published by the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening, includes a review, three original research articles, and an editorial focused on new protocols and technologies in the field of 3D cell culture. The special issue covers topics ranging from cytokine receptor antagonists to high-throughput screening methods for identifying drug-target interactions.

Why it matters

3D cell culture models are becoming increasingly important in drug discovery and development, as they can better mimic the complex in vivo environment compared to traditional 2D cell cultures. The new protocols and methods published in this SLAS Discovery volume have the potential to streamline and improve 3D biology research, leading to more clinically relevant findings.

The details

The special issue features a review tracing the evolution of biological drugs to small molecule cytokine antagonists, as well as three original research articles. One study introduces a new ELISA platform for high-throughput screening of small molecule protein-protein interaction inhibitors. Another presents innovations in cellular thermal shift assays to enable ultra-high throughput screening and full melt curve analysis. The third article describes a fluorescence-based split-RNase S complementation method called MICRO-TAG that can quantify drug-target engagement directly in cells across temperature series.

• The latest volume of SLAS Discovery was published on March 27, 2026.