Business
Unique costs associated with AHTSC facilities
HTS service labs require steady funding, as with all service core facilities, but there are several unique costs found in screening cores. Unique to HTS cores are the screening platforms and liquid han- dling workstations, which can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $500,000 per instrument, and many instruments can be integrated to make a seamless, automated screening workstation. Alternatively, these instruments can be left non-integrated, for use in a modular setting. Every few years, newer, better HTS instruments outdate older models, such as 384-tip based robots making 8-tip liquid han- dlers practically obsolete. As newer instruments with more capabilities arise, however, prior models become more affordable for academic labs. HTS cores face ever changing assays, with needs for new types of instruments, as is currently being seen with the increasing demand for label-free instrumenta- tion. Progressively smaller volume bulk dispensers and compound dispensers with smaller volume capacity (nanolitres and picolitres) are being devel- oped, along with more sensitive detectors, smaller wells in microplates (384, 1536 and 3456), and plate readers that can read these smaller wells. For HTS service cores to compete with pharma or with CROs, they need to occasionally and strategically upgrade their instruments.
Similar to HTS cores, non-HTS service core facilities also need to upgrade instrumentation when new technology is developed. Any service core with such expensive, large and complicated instrumentation faces steep prices on service con- tracts. Particularly complex screening instruments, such as acoustic-based or label-free, may have serv- ice contracts costing more than 10% of the pur- chase price of the instrument, per year. HTS serv- ice cores are typically staffed with specialists in their respective fields, with wide knowledge of dif- ferent types of assay systems and sciences, which is necessary to offer expert consultation for their core services to the diverse array of collaborators need- ing assay services. However, automation engineers are practically non-existent in academic HTS labs, and the core facility’s staff members, depending on their interest, take on the task of trouble shooting and maintaining their instruments.
Product pricing: striking a balance AHTSCFs may have an easier time staying self-sus- tained if they increase the rates they use to charge for services. But increasing the rate structure can cause its own problems, driving away investigators to cheaper solutions, or competing service labs or
Drug Discovery World Winter 2011/12 63
vendors. Affordability and price competition are key factors to maintaining this balance. If the charge for services is too high, potential collabora- tors will spend their project funding elsewhere. A principal investigator may be tempted to divert $45,000 away from a planned high throughput screening campaign, choosing instead to spend it on one year of a post-doc’s salary. Both options carry inherent risks and benefits. A post-doc may be funded for a full year, but the work will gener- ally be less, and possibly lower quality, than focused efforts of a full HTS team, project manag- er, director consultation, and the array of provided HTS services. We compare the pros and cons of this predicament in Table 6.
Table 4: Financial management, governance and clientele of KU-HTSL
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