Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 3: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems I (organised by BP)

DY 3.1: Invited Talk

Monday, March 14, 2011, 10:15–10:45, ZEU 250

High throughput microscopy for systems biology: from genome-wide profiling to the analysis of protein complexes — •Jan Ellenberg — EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany

Despite our exponentially growing knowledge about the human genome, we do not know all human genes required for some of the most basic functions of life, such as cell division. Furthermore we do not know how the proteins encoded by these genes work together to carry out the underlying cellular processes. We have developed high throughput microscopy platforms to systematically identify genes and characterize the function of their encoded proteins. For gene identification, we have integrated methods for gene silencing by RNA interference with phenotyping by time-lapse microscopy and computational image processing into one high throughput pipeline. This technology platform allowed us to carry out a genome-wide profiling of each of the ~ 21 000 human protein-coding genes by two day live imaging of fluorescently labeled chromosomes. Quantitative image analysis identified hundreds of human genes involved in several basic biological functions including cell division, migration and survival. Computational clustering of the phenotypic signatures of cell division genes allowed us to group them into different categories and make predictions about their function. To analyze the predicted function of proteins in phenotypic clusters, we are currently developing high throughput fluorescence microscopy and biophysical methods to systematically study their localization, interactions and assembly in the physiological context of the living cell.