SLAS2026 Ignite Theater - Sponsored By Drug Discovery World
The SLAS Ignite Theater, sponsored by Drug Discovery World, hosts a variety of presentations and discussions throughout SLAS2026, including the Innovation AveNEW Ignite Award finalists’ presentations, Partnering Pitches from start-ups, and a State of the Industry Panel Discussion. SLAS Ignite underscores the Society’s commitment to collaboration, enabling scientists, academic researchers, and business development professionals to build relationships as potential strategic partners. Through Innovation AveNEW and the Ignite Award, SLAS facilitates connections that result in pioneering new research, new products, innovative breakthroughs, and commercialization opportunities for all involved.
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The Role of Connected Data in Accelerating Drug Discovery
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Modern drug discovery relies on fast, reliable access to diverse datasets spanning chemistry, biology, screening, and translational research. Yet many organizations still rely on fragmented tools that separate data across workflows, slowing interpretation and increasing manual effort. Integrated informatics platforms address these challenges by providing a single, secure environment in which core discovery functions, including chemical registration, assay capture, electronic lab notebooks, inventory, modeling tools, and curated external data, operate cohesively. By unifying these capabilities within one system, scientists gain an end-to-end view of their experiments, reducing ambiguity, improving reproducibility, and accelerating decision-making. By embedding FAIR principles, shared ontologies, standard identifiers, and modern APIs, the platform enables automated data capture, consistent metadata, and data management that scales with increasing research complexity. Within CDD Vault, a unified data foundation aligns internal teams, CROs, and academic partners around a single, auditable source of truth. This minimizes duplicated work, shortens iteration cycles, supports advanced analytics and machine learning, and makes structure–activity relationships and multiparameter trends easier to identify. Ultimately, an integrated data platform simplifies compliance by transforming fragmented information into actionable insight, enabling better targets, experimental strategy, and an efficient shift from early discovery to candidate selection.
https://events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Details/3178794
Top 5 challenges to consider when automating drug discovery lab workflows
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Drug discovery labs are under constant pressure to increase throughput, improve quality, and do more with fewer resources. But automating these workflows isn’t always straightforward. Join Mike Ouren, Director of Business Development at Brooks Automation, as he breaks down the Top 5 Challenges to Consider When Automating Drug Discovery Lab Workflows.
Interoperable Automation: Real-Time Dataflows to Close DMTA Cycle
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Modern drug discovery relies on fast, reliable access to diverse datasets spanning chemistry, biology, screening, and translational research. Yet many organizations still rely on fragmented tools that separate data across workflows, slowing interpretation and increasing manual effort. Integrated informatics platforms address these challenges by providing a single, secure environment in which core discovery functions, including chemical registration, assay capture, electronic lab notebooks, inventory, modeling tools, and curated external data, operate cohesively. By unifying these capabilities within one system, scientists gain an end-to-end view of their experiments, reducing ambiguity, improving reproducibility, and accelerating decision-making. By embedding FAIR principles, shared ontologies, standard identifiers, and modern APIs, the platform enables automated data capture, consistent metadata, and data management that scales with increasing research complexity. Within CDD Vault, a unified data foundation aligns internal teams, CROs, and academic partners around a single, auditable source of truth. This minimizes duplicated work, shortens iteration cycles, supports advanced analytics and machine learning, and makes structure–activity relationships and multiparameter trends easier to identify. Ultimately, an integrated data platform simplifies compliance by transforming fragmented information into actionable insight, enabling better targets, experimental strategy, and an efficient shift from early discovery to candidate selection.
De-Risking the Translation Gap: Coupling AI with High-Throughput In Vivo Models
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Despite significant advances in drug discovery, central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as epilepsy and alcohol use disorder (AUD) remain underserved by current therapeutics. High attrition rates in clinical development reflect a persistent translational gap between preclinical discovery and human efficacy. In this talk, we present a platform approach that integrates high-throughput in vivo phenotyping with AI-driven analytics to systematically reduce translational risk in CNS drug development.
We highlight case studies in epilepsy and AUD using zebrafish-based behavioural models that capture complex, quantifiable disease-relevant phenotypes at scale. Coupled with proprietary computer vision and deep learning pipelines, these models generate rich phenotypic signatures in response to diverse chemical and genetic perturbations. By mapping these signatures to clinical reference compounds and mechanistic annotations, we identify candidates with both phenotypic efficacy and translational relevance.
In our epilepsy project, we demonstrate the ability to distinguish between mechanistically distinct anticonvulsants and to uncover novel compounds with seizure-suppressing activity. In AUD, our models differentiate between sedative, aversive, and anti-craving profiles, enabling the prioritization of compounds with clinical-like efficacy and reduced liability. Across both programs, machine learning models trained on high-content phenotypic data improve the predictive accuracy of early-stage screening, inform target deconvolution, and guide structure-activity relationship optimization.
By coupling scalable in vivo models with AI-driven analytics, our platform offers a robust framework for de-risking CNS drug discovery and accelerating the path from hit to human.
EU-OPENSCREEN/SLAS AI/ML Competition Winner Announcement: EU-OPENSCREEN/SLAS Challenge to develop Machine Learning models to predict the optical properties of small molecules
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
From Animal Models to Human Mini-Hearts: How Automated Human-Based Testing is Revolutionizing Drug Discovery
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Drug discovery has relied on animal models with poor predictive value, driving high attrition. Medera’s subsidiary Novoheart has pioneered the flagship “human heart-in-a-jar,” a self-pumping chamber that uniquely measures physiologically complex parameters such as pressure–volume loops and cardiac output—readouts unattainable by simpler tools. By integrating hardware, software, AI-based analytics, and robotics, this automated mini-Heart platform enables scalable, reproducible human-based testing for disease modeling, drug discovery and validation, and dosage optimization. It has supported FDA IND and Fast Track clearances and underpins an ongoing first-in-human HFpEF cardiac gene therapy trial recently completing Ph 1/2a. These advances are transforming preclinical testing and accelerating safer, more effective therapies.
From Data to Decisions: Digital-Ready Laboratories Powered by Automation
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
As laboratories scale and diversify their workflows, the ability to orchestrate instruments, robotics, and data systems into a unified digital environment is critical. Digital-ready laboratories leverage laboratory automation software, robotic platforms, and connected instrumentation to create seamless, end-to-end workflows that convert experimental data into timely, confident decisions. This presentation examines how integrated software layers enable centralized control, real-time monitoring, and standardized execution across automated workflows, while robotics reduces manual variability and increases throughput. Attendees will learn how digitally orchestrated automation supports data integrity, traceability, and advanced analytics—laying the foundation for more predictive, decision-driven laboratory operations. Through real-world examples, we will highlight how software-enabled robotics help laboratories move from fragmented automation to scalable, future-ready digital ecosystems.
Ignite Award Winner: XDemics - More cells, more signal, more science with Expansify respiring cultureware
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
In vitro cell expansion remains inefficient because oxygen delivery in conventional polystyrene vessels is far below that of native capillary networks. We developed Expansify™ respiring cultureware, a bioinspired silicone microarchitecture that enables high-density 3D cell culture through enhanced oxygen transport. The Expansify™ architecture comprises rows of gas permeable silicone fins that function as artificial capillaries, oxygenating the grooves between them where cells expand. Across common cell lines (e.g. HEK, HeLa, CHO, K562, iPSC-derived), we routinely achieve >1×10⁸ cells/cm³, approaching volumetric confluence limits. Expansify™ is compatible with adherent, suspension, microcarrier, and spheroid workflows and scales linearly across 96-well, 24-well, and dish formats. We demonstrate applications in general cell culture, screening, and biomanufacturing-relevant processes (CAR-T, viral vector, antibody production), enabling multipurpose intensified bioproduction with improved uniformity and reproducibility, along with significant space and labor savings.
Ignite Award Finalist: MxT Biotech - HYDROPORATOR: A Next-Generation Gene Delivery Platform for Cell and Gene Therapy
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
The Hydroporator® is a next-generation, non-viral gene delivery platform designed to transform cellular engineering and cell & gene therapy workflows. Leveraging patented microfluidic technology, the Hydroporator® fluidically permeabilizes cell and nuclear membranes, enabling highly efficient intracellular delivery of diverse cargos—including plasmid DNA, mRNA, proteins, and CRISPR-Cas9 RNPs—while preserving high cell viability and functionality. Unlike traditional viral vectors, lipofection, or electroporation, this platform offers scalable performance, cost-effective operation, and broad applicability across challenging primary cell types, thus addressing key limitations in current gene delivery methodologies. With applications spanning cancer immunotherapy, genome editing, and regenerative medicine, the Hydroporator® supports both research and future GMP-level manufacturing, accelerating the development and commercialization of advanced cell & gene therapies.
Ignite Award Finalist: GelTech Labs - Accelerating the future of medicine, hygiene and sustainability with automated hydrogel testing
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Hydrogels play a critical role across drug delivery, wound care, hygiene products, and emerging sustainability applications, yet their development and characterization remain largely manual. Key performance metrics such as swelling kinetics, degradation behavior, fluid uptake, and mechanical stability are often measured using low-throughput, labor-intensive assays with limited standardization across laboratories. These constraints slow formulation optimization, reduce reproducibility, and hinder translation from academic research to industrial-scale product development.
This presentation will first examine the scientific importance of hydrogels and the practical challenges associated with their characterization. The second half will introduce GelTech Labs’ automated hydrogel testing platform, designed to standardize and accelerate core hydrogel workflows through benchtop automation and high-resolution measurement. By enabling parallelized testing, continuous data acquisition, and improved reproducibility, GelTech’s approach aims to significantly reduce development timelines and provide a scalable foundation for hydrogel discovery, quality control, and commercialization.
Ignite Award Finalist: Vitroscope
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
Vitroscope unlocks the full potential of living human tissue. By bringing controlled flow to vascularised organoids and intact tissues, our platform preserves the native microenvironment — making it possible to study immune activity, drug effects, and disease mechanisms in real time. One integrated system, minimal training, compatible out of the box with tissue, 2D, mechanobiology, organoids, and 3D bioprints. Fully compatible with up- and down-stream screenings.
Ignite Award Finalist: DropXcell - AI-Driven Antibody Design and High-Throughput Testing to Enable Pre-Seed Therapeutic Discovery
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Open to view video. | Closed captions available
The cost of developing new drugs is at an all time high, while biotech funding is at the lowest rate in over a decade. Only 10% of drugs make it through clinical trials, and yet typical methods to derisk drug development such as government funding for academia and startups are running dry. Now, with modern advances in AI and high-throughput drug screening, DropXcell is able to cut the cost of lead molecule generation by 10x while screening 10,000x more drugs for binding and function. With a focus on pre-seed and seed biotech companies, DropXcell is leading the way in de-risking early stage drug development for small biotechs. By offering low cost, high value antibody design and screening services and pairing that with increased access to investors, partners, and AI tools through our exclusive partnership with TheBiogentic, we are revolutionizing early stage drug development and helping biotech founders live their dreams of bringing better therapies to patients.