© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Biotechnol. J. 2013, 8 www.biotechnology-journal.com Graphical Abstract (will be published online) Technical Report Rapid screening of potential autophagic inductor agents using mammalian cell lines Waleska K. Martins, Divinomar Severino, Cleidiane Souza, Beatriz S. Stolf and Maurício S. Baptista DOI 10.1002/biot.201200306 Although recent progress in understanding the molecular basis of autophagy has demonstrat- ed its importance for human health, affordable screening techniques to identify autophagy in vitro are not yet available. In this article, the authors describe a novel in vitro strategy for rapid screening of potential autophagic induc- tor agents using mammalian cell lines. The proposed strategy is very useful for drug dis- covery, allowing the investigation of potential autophagic inductors in a single microplate. The conceptual framework of the method is the superior uptake of neutral red (NR) in cells engaging in autophagy. GALLEY PROOF