Cytomics and drug development

Drug discovery is fundamentally focused on increasing the number and novelty of medicines, while containing the associated costs. High costs impact on healthcare delivery and the range of diseases for which medicines become available. Pace has been increased via combinatorial chemistry, genomics knowledge, proteomics technologies, new target validation methodologies, miniaturization, and high throughput screening (HTS). The integration of cytometry-based platforms has offered increasingly sophisticated levels of multiplexing (1). Cytomics offers information on the complexity, state, and behavior of heterogeneous cellular systems—reaching into the time domain of specific processes and the spatial changes in participating molecules and structures. Exploiting cytomic approaches and evolving parameters for use in computational biology could support both the screening and development of molecular therapeutics. The role of cytomics in drug discovery and development is best appreciated with respect to the problems, drivers and challenges of the healthcare sector. In this short “perspective” the aim is to profile some of these issues for the wider cytometry community.