Live Cell Imaging Analysis

What's on my desk today? A report on a new open source software package for analysis of high-throughput live cell images.

Held et al. (2010) CellCognition: time-resolved phenotype annotation in high-throughput live cell imaging. Nature Methods. 7, 747–754.

Quote of the Week: Technology

Quote of of the summer, at this point? It's been a while!

My hypodermic syringe is of the simplest. It consists of a little glass tube, tapering sharply at one end. By drawing in my breath, I fill it with the liquid to be tested; I expel the contents by blowing. Its point is almost as fine as a hair and enables me to regulate the dose to the degree which I want. A cubic millimetre is the usual charge. The injection has to be made at parts that are generally covered with horn. So as not to break the point of my fragile instrument, I prepare the way with a needle, with which I prick the victim at the spot required. I insert the tip of the loaded injector in the hole thus made and I blow. The thing is done in a moment, very neatly and in an orthodox fashion, favourable to delicate experiments. I am delighted with my modest apparatus.

from The Life of the Fly by J.H. Fabre, translated by A. Teixeira de Mattos

(1913, Dodd, Mead & Co., NY)

Another on S2 cells

What's on my desk today? A reprint kindly sent by G. Goshima of the chapter:

Goshima (2010). Assessment of Mitotic Spindle Phenotypes in Drosophila S2 Cells. Methods in Cell Biol. Vol. 97.

Includes discussion of use of RNAi in S2 cells, appropriate controls, variability in the normal cell population, and mitotic mutant phenotypes.

Fly Function Prediction

What's on my desk to read today?

Yan et al. (2010) A Genome-Wide Gene Function Prediction Resource for Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS One. 5(8). pii: e12139. Here's a link to the fly FuncBase website.

Of note: DRSC RNAi screen data sets were used in this study to help evaluate the predictions.

Similar but Different--Comparison of 4 Mammalian RNAi Screens

What's on my desk today? A comparison of the methods used in four mammalian cell RNAi screens investigating HIV-1 host cell factors. Pache et a. (2010) Identifying HIV-1 host cell factors by genome-scale RNAi screening. Methods. doe:10.1016/j.ymeth.2010.07.009.

Pseudomonas Exotoxin & S2 Cells

Also on my desk today? Like today's other post, a study in S2 cells that one could easily imagine leading to a high-throughput screen.

Sharma & Fitzgerald (2010) Pseudomonas Exotoxin kills Drosophila S2 cells via Apoptosis. Toxicon. PMID: 20659495.

Transcriptional response of S2 cells to JH treatment

What's on my desk today?

A report describing the results of a microarray analysis of S2 cells treated with Juvenile Hormone. Several genes up- or down-regulated under these conditions were identified.

Willis et al. (2010) Microarray Analysis of Juvenile Hormone Response in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells. J Insect Sci. 2010 Jun;10:66. PMID: 2067298.