SIC50: Determination of IC50 by an optimized Sobel operator and a vision transformer

Wang, Y.; Zhang, W.; Yip, H.; Qu, C.; Hu, H.; Chen, X.; Lee, T.; Yang, X.; Yang, B.; Kumar, P.; Lee, S. Y.; Casimiro, J.; Zhang, J.; Lam, K. S.; Wang, A.

doi:10.1101/2022.08.12.503661

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.08.12.503661

SIC50: Determination of IC50 by an optimized Sobel operator and a vision transformer

Wang, Y.·Zhang, W.·Yip, H.·Qu, C.·Hu, H.·Chen, X.·Lee, T.·Yang, X.·Yang, B.·Kumar, P.·Lee, S. Y.·Casimiro, J.·Zhang, J.·Lam, K. S.·Wang, A.

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Abstract

As a measure of cytotoxic potency, half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) is the concentration at which a drug exerts half of its maximal inhibitory effect against target cells. It can be determined by various methods that require applying additional reagents or lysing the cells. Here, we describe a label-free Sobel-edge-based method, which we name SIC50, for the evaluation of IC50. SIC50 classifies pre-processed phase-contrast images with a state-of-art vision transformer and allows for the continuous assessment of IC50 in a faster and more cost-efficient manner. We have validated this method using four drugs and 1536-well plates, as well as built a first-of-its-kind web application. We anticipate this method will assist in the high-throughput screening of chemical libraries (e.g., small molecule drugs, siRNA, and microRNA and drug discovery.

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Wang, Y., Zhang, W., Yip, H., Qu, C., Hu, H., Chen, X., Lee, T., Yang, X., Yang, B., Kumar, P., Lee, S. Y., Casimiro, J., Zhang, J., Lam, K. S., Wang, A.. 2022-08-15. SIC50: Determination of IC50 by an optimized Sobel operator and a vision transformer. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.12.503661

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