Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will shift their search for potential drugs into high gear on September 21, when a new Chemical Screening Center opens for business. The center will allow researchers to perform up to 30,000 experiments per day as they test chemical compounds for usefulness in fighting disease or understanding fundamental aspects of a cell's life. A half-day symposium will mark the opening day.

The screening center will be shared by UCSC faculty in the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology; and Environmental Toxicology. Researchers will use its six robots and library of 55,000 compounds to study cancer, malaria, Parkinson's disease, cholera, and the mechanics of inflammation, among other ailments. Additional projects include studies of cell division, DNA transcription, and the ways in which genes regulate cell life.

The $500,000 center gives an enormous boost to UCSC's capability in the field of high-throughput screening. "It's where robotics meets biotechnology," said Scott Lokey, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry and lead investigator of the center. "We harness the ability of robots to do thousands of tedious manipulations in parallel, so we can focus on analyzing data."