High Content Analysis Definition

High Content Analysis (HCA) is the automation of fluorescence microscopy whereby the manual interpretation of images is replaced by computer algorithms that can quantify staining profiles in different areas of the image. The microtitre plate workflow means that HCA is the only method available in biological research that returns many measurements while retaining a high throughput.

Implications of HCA on Experimental output (click here)

Traditional microscopy is very powerful because it generates information rich images. However, analysis by a human operator is:

Work intensive
Time consuming
Produces qualitative not quantitative data
Subject to user interpretation

Replacing the microscopist with computer analysis, allows the extraction of much more information from the images. Because it is possible to analyse many more images one can expand both the number of treatment variables and the quality and quantity of measured variables. HCA can put numbers to the staining intensities and score exactly where the stain is within the cell.

Hence the advantages of HCA over manual microscopy are:

Can analyse many more fields and parameters than a human operator
No experimental bias as each image is treated by the computer the exact same way
Gives quantification of staining and staining profiles
Can explore many more treatment conditions
For drug discovery: can rapidly generate many compound dose response curves within a full cellular context