Intracellular detection assays for high-throughput screening

New optical assay methods promise to accelerate the use of living cells in screens for drug discovery. Most of these methods employ either fluorescent or luminescent read-outs and allow cell-based assays for most targets, inc luding receptors, ion channels and intracellular enzymes. Furthermore, gene tically encoded probes offer the possibility of custom-engineered biosensor s for intracellular biochemistry, specifically localized targets, and prote in-protein interactions.