Web Wednesday--ADRC Special Edition!

Today, a Web Wednesday report, coming to you live from the Drosophila conference!

We've just launched our online web tool for ortholog predictions: the DRSC Integrative Ortholog Prediction Tool (DIOPT). Building on work from many other groups, we've created an integrative tool that displays results from many tools. We've also included features meant to make it easier for biologists to search and view ortholog predictions.

Details and more at Poster 452B (Hu et al.).

Please check it out and let us know if you have suggestions for improvement!

Methods Reports

There are Drosophila RNAi-related reports in a recent Methods in Molecular Biology series book (volume 721). Can't yet say that I'm reading them (don't have copies yet). But they've shown up in PubMed and I did want to make an announcement. Includes reports from S. Cherry, Obadia & Saleh, Nayak & Andino, Yang & Li, and van Cleef et al.

A year of assays for free?

Looks like a 1,000-word essay could win you free access to an Acumen laser scanning cytometer for a year. Here's hoping a Drosophila researcher gets picked!

Breaking Report: RNAi "sensor arrays" and RNAi design

On my desk to read today? A newly reported approach to identification of potent shRNAs.

Fellmann et al. 2011 Functional Identification of Optimized RNAi Triggers Using a Massively Parallel Sensor Assay. Molecular Cell 41:733-746.

DRSC at ADRC

The DRSC will be represented at the fly meeting this year by myself (S. Mohr, DRSC Director) and bioinformatician Claire Hu.

Please feel free to email me if you'd like to set up a time to meet for a confidential talk about your screening plans.

I will also be presenting in the Techniques and Genomics session (Platform #133, Mohr et al. Application of High-Content Imaging to Genome-Scale Interrogations of the Nucleus).

Claire will be presenting a poster in the human disease category on identification of orthologs of fly genes and matching fly genes to human diseases (Poster #452B, Hu et al. DIOPT, the DRSC Integrative Ortholog Prediction Tool). Please drop by and welcome Claire to her first fly conference!

The Transgenic RNAi Project (TRiP) will also be represented at the meeting. Check out back-to-back posters #952A and 951C to see what's new with the in vivo side of things.

Breaking Report: Small-Scale ER Screen

On my desk to read today? A targeted screen looking at 156 putative ER proteins identified bioinformatically and then studied in a cell-based microscopy assay.

Kondylis et al. (2011) Identification of ER proteins involved in the functional organisation of the early secretory pathway in Drosophila cells by a targeted RNAi screen. PLoS ONE. Open Access. Protocol Note: Screened in S2 cells.

Interested to do a similar screen--one targeted to a small sub-set of genes? The DRSC is filling requests for custom library production based on our collection of more than 30,000 high-quality amplicons. Please contact the director for more information.

Breaking Report: Power of Combinatorial RNAi

On my desk to read today? A new report from T. Horn and colleagues in the Boutros group on the use of double-knockdown to uncover genetic interactions.

Horn et al. (2011) Mapping of signaling networks through synthetic genetic interaction analysis by RNAi. Nature Methods. Advanced online publication. PMID: 21378980.

More than 70,000 measurements!

Breaking Report: Ricin Resistance & Sensitivity

On my desk to read today? A breaking report of an RNAi screen for resistance and sensitivity to the plant toxin ricin.

Pawar et al. (2011) RNAi Screening of Drosophila (Sophophora) melanogaster S2 Cells for Ricin Sensitivity and Resistance. Journal of Biomolecular Screening. DOI: 10.1177/1087057110397890