AVX Seminar: From siRNA Screens to Drugs: Illuminating the Cell to Understand Cystic Fibrosis

AVX Seminar

Title: From siRNA Screens to Drugs: Illuminating the Cell to Understand Cystic Fibrosis

Speaker: Margarida Amaral

Affiliation: Faculdade de Ciências Universidade de Lisboa

Abstract:

The information of complete genome sequences and the identification and systematic cloning of human cDNAs provide the challenging opportunity to analyse the complexity of biological processes on a large scale. However, these techniques have limitations, not least of which is their lack of demonstrating a functional involvement of the molecules identified. Recent advances in automated fluorescence scanning microscopy and image processing allow the application of complete genome knowledge in large-scale screening applications with so far unmatched functional information at the single cell or sub-cellular level. Indeed, in combination with genome-wide/ high-content (HC) small-interference RNA (siRNA) or cDNA over-expression strategies, such microscopy-based applications hold promise to help revealing comprehensively the regulatory networks underlying several cellular processes, such as membrane traffic, in intact cells.

This will be illustrated by the application of these assays in the context of high-content siRNA screens to identify genes/proteins affecting the traffic/function of two key membrane proteins in Cystic Fibrosis patho-physiology, namely the Epithelial Na+ Channel (ENaC) and the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR)