Consortium to Develop RNAi Screening Through Micropatterning Techniques

An SME driven project involving academic and industrial partners aims to combine high throughput applications of RNAi with new technology for normalising cultured cells’ behaviour by growing them on adhesive micropatterns. The MEHTRICS consortium, which has been awarded a €4 million research grant over three years under the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program includes CYTOO, a company specialising in micropattern enhanced cell-based assays and Cenix BioScience, developers of HT screening applications of RNAi.

Academic partners are from the Heidelberg, Germany-based Bioquant/Heidelberg University teams of Drs Ulrich Schwarz and Holger Erfle, the Lausanne, Switzerland-based EPFL team of Dr Pierre Gönczy and the Vilnius, Lithuania-based Institute FTMC team of Dr. Ramunas Valiokas. The cross-disciplinary team, covering areas from chemistry and nanotechnology to HT cell biology, pharmacology, automated image analysis and mathematical modelling, will work on optimising micropatternenhanced cell-based assays with a very broad range of applicability.

Ultimately, the proof of principle for these methodologies will include several test-scale RNAi screens focused on basic and disease-relevant processes. “Initial studies of our technology‘s genuinely transformational potential have already begun to reveal its promise for enhancing the quality of existing high content analyses and its potential for establishing novel strategies driving such analyses,” said Alexandra Fuchs, Chief Operating Officer of CYTOO.

“Since experimental designs required for RNAi screens are among the most demanding of all HT/HC studies in cultured cells, encompassing virtually all technical challenges also encountered in compound screens, we expect the proposed scope of activities to deliver the maximal potential for impactful innovation, widespread adoption and clear relevance for all major applications of HT/HC cell screening, from RNAi to miRNA modulation to analyses of drug action,” added Dr Christophe Echeverri, Chief Executive Officer/Chief Scientific Officer of Cenix.

The consortium’s administrative and financial activities will be coordinated by VITAMIB, a well-established French SME specialised in design and management of collaborative research projects.