High content screening (HCS) was developed by Cellomics Inc. in the mid-1990s to address the need for a platform that could be used in the discovery-driven research and development required to understand the functions of genes and gene products at the level of the cell. High Content Screening: A Powerful Approach to Systems Cell Biology and Drug Discovery discusses its use as a high throughput platform to understand the functions of genes, RNA, proteins, and other cellular constituents at the level of the living cell.