A "hairball" of genetic interactionsNOVARTISIn what appear to be the largest RNAi screening efforts in cancer to date, two groups of scientists have tamped down the expression of thousands of genes in hundreds of human cancer cell lines. Their results, published today (July 27) in two Cell papers and made freely available to researchers, confirm the roles of the usual genetic suspects in cancer and identify new potential therapeutic targets.
The Scientist spoke with the lead author of one of the studies, Rob McDonald, a senior investigator at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, about his team’s Project DRIVE endeavor. The study systematically knocked down more than 7,800 genes in nearly 400 cell lines. The other project, by researchers from the Broad Institute and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, looked for genetic dependences for cancer growth or survival among 501 cell lines.
The Scientist: What is the goal of Project DRIVE?
Rob McDonald: Very simply, it was to identify new therapeutic targets across a variety of cancer types that would hopefully impact patient care.
TS: How did you go about it?
RM: It really started with a foundational tool we have here at Novartis called the cancer ...
