Riccardo Dainese, one of the co-founders at Alithea, began his presentation by introducing the company, which originated as an EPFL spin-off and had expanded to operate in both Switzerland and Maryland, USA. Alithea focuses on developing tools for generating transcriptomic data, aiming to enhance drug development and compound screening by improving data generation processes.
Dainese explained that Alithea's technology, DRUG-Seq, combines the benefits of targeted assays and RNA sequencing. Targeted assays, while high throughput and low cost, require prior knowledge of the biology being studied and are inherently biased. Conversely, RNA sequencing allows for unbiased measurement of all expressed RNA but is expensive and low throughput. DRUG-Seq aims to offer a high throughput, cost-effective, and unbiased solution.
The DRUG-Seq process begins with frozen cell plates and is compatible with various well plate formats. It does not require RNA isolation, simplifying the procedure and reducing costs. The process involves adding a lysis buffer to solubilise RNA, followed by massively multiplexed tagging of samples, allowing for efficient processing. DRUG-Seq is compatible with next-generation sequencing solutions and provides open-source data analysis.
Dainese highlighted several case studies to demonstrate DRUG-Seq's capabilities. One project with the Broad Institute involved profiling over 3,800 compound combinations, detecting around 12,000 genes per sample, and delivering data within seven days. Another project with Axxam showcased DRUG-Seq's compatibility with various cell lines and its ability to identify markers for toxicity.
Towards the end of his presentation, Dainese introduced a new technology, Total DRUG-Seq, which was set to launch in July. This technology offers the same advantages as DRUG-Seq but also allows for the profiling of long noncoding RNAs and full-length RNA molecules. Total DRUG-Seq aims to provide additional insights into alternative promoter activation and other biological phenomena.
