Functional Genomics Screening Laboratory - Call for Project Proposals
The Functional Genomics Screening Laboratory – a joint venture between the Milner Therapeutics Institute, University of Cambridge, the Medical Research Council (MRC) and AstraZeneca – aims to combine know-how and experience to accelerate the development of biomarkers and therapeutics for diseases through functional interrogation of the genome at scale.
The FGSL leverages the unique features of arrayed screening, whereby individual genes are edited via CRISPR/Cas9 in a plate-based format, to uncover the complexity of developmental and disease signatures using human in vitro models. To do this, the laboratory is equipped with a high-throughput screening platform that enables automated liquid handling and acquisition of high-content endpoints including spatial imaging and flow cytometry.
Funding is available for researchers from across the UK to access this state-of-the-art automated platform and in-house tools, to perform high-throughput phenotypic screening. This call for proposals is relevant to UK-based academics, small/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and pharma who have complex human in vitro models, such as organoids, co-culture models, etc., amenable to arrayed CRISPR screening.
Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis, and will be reviwed in May and November of each year.