Small molecule screening in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived terminal cell types.

A need for better clinical outcomes has heightened interest in the use of physiologically relevant human cells in the drug discovery process. Patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells may offer a relevant, robust, scalable, and cost-effective model of human disease physiology. Small molecule high throughput screening in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cells with the intent of identifying novel therapeutic compounds is starting to influence the drug discovery process; however, the use of these cells presents many high throughput screening development challenges. This technology has the potential to transform the way drug discovery is performed.