Wilma Keighley

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About

Wilma Keighley is a distinguished biophysicist and assay development pioneer whose work has fundamentally shaped modern high-throughput drug discovery. Her primary research focuses on intracellular calcium signaling, G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) pharmacology, and the engineering of real-time cellular assays for pharmaceutical screening. Keighley’s landmark 2003 paper, "Measuring Intracellular Calcium Fluxes in High Throughput Mode," has garnered 58 citations and remains a cornerstone reference in the field. In this seminal work, she revolutionized the measurement of G(q)-coupled receptor activation by demonstrating how fluorescent calcium indicators could be adapted for robust, real-time kinetic analysis in microplate formats. This breakthrough enabled pharmaceutical companies to screen millions of compounds rapidly for GPCR activity, dramatically accelerating the identification of new surrogate ligands and therapeutic candidates. Beyond this foundational contribution, Keighley is recognized for developing novel fluorometric techniques that bridge the gap between basic cell biology and industrial-scale pharmacology. Her meticulous approach to assay validation and her ability to translate complex cellular dynamics into reliable, high-throughput platforms have made her work indispensable to both academic researchers studying signal transduction and industry scientists pursuing new drug targets.