Willie Buchser, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Genetics
McDonnell Genome Institute
Washington University School of Medicine

McDonnell Genome Institute

Deep Cellular Phenotyping, the newest tools for Omics or Screening

In-person only:  Connor Auditorium (FLTC)

Talk abstract: Cell based deep phenotyping allows immediate study of a patient’s exact variant without generating a mouse, fly, or worm model (which may not even have the orthologous gene let alone the exact mutant). Instead of lengthy assay development, confocal imaging can uncover subtle functional changes to cellular morphology and organelles. These phenotypes are further enhanced by multi-feature machine learning approaches that can hone in on patient-relevant biology. In addition to getting the “signature” of these patient-variant phenotypes, we have developed an entire CRISPR-pooled screening pipeline which relies on imaging rather than survival or reporter assays. This talk will showcase the new tools to quickly determine which genetic or pharmacologic perturbations produce functional changes in cells.