Past Events

Past Events

How to do Screening@ETH - concepts, strategies and good practice

When: 20th to 22nd January 2021

The course examines
• High-Throughput Screening – from setup to data analysis
• High-Content Screening – principles of image-based screening
• Pooled Genetic Screening using the CRISPR/Cas system.
• Using Flow Cytometry as a tool for phenotyping and screening

See below for the detailed program.

Audience
The course is aimed at scientists from all faculties who are planning to or are about to start performing an in vitro or in vivo screen.

Prerequisite
Basic theoretical knowledge in biology/biochemistry/computational analysis. No particular computational or wet lab experience is necessary.

Venue and Time
The theoretical and practical parts of the course will be presented online via Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the infection landscape, the practical parts may be on-site.
The course will start at 09:00 and end around 17:00. Precise information will be provided to the participants in due time.

Registration
The course is free of charge, but registration is mandatory. Please register external page online not later than 10/12/2020. The course is limited to 20 participants on a first-come-first-served basis. You will be informed by email until 15/12/2020 if your application can be considered.
A certificate of attendance will be delivered to the participants attending the course in full.


Detailed program

High-Throughput Screening – from setup to data analysis (Nexus Personalized Health Technologies):
This part of the course will cover the concepts, strategies and good practices in high-throughput experiments, how to successfully plan an experiment and how to deal with challenges. It will address the experimental as well as the data analysis components throughout the life cycle of a project, from the initial idea all the way to publication.

High-Content Screening – principles of image-based screening (Scientific center for optical and electron Microscopy (ScopeM):
This part of the course examines the principles of image-based high-content screening (HCS) in theory and practice from HCS assay design to image acquisition and image - and data analysis. It outlines what automation mean for microscopy and associates benefits and constraints of HCS.

Pooled Genetic Screening using the CRISPR/Cas system (Genome Engineering and Measurement Lab (GEML)):
Here, we will focus on the concept of pooled screening. In particular we will introduce genome engineering and discuss how genetic tools like the CRISPR/Cas system have been adopted and scaled to allow whole genome screens in a pooled format.
During this part of the course, participants are expected to grasp the rationale behind pooled genetic screening, and appreciate both the strengths and limitations of such an approach.
At the end, the participants will have the opportunity to assess and reinforce their understanding on pooled genetic screening through short interactive exercises.

Using Flow Cytometry as a tool for phenotyping and screening (ETH Flow Cytometry Core Facility (FCCF)):
After an introduction into the inner workings of flow cytometry, we will address the possible uses of this technology for screening campaigns, including cell purification and high-dimensional phenotyping, and discuss several of the many of the flow cytometry-based cellular assays that can be employed for high-throughput characterization of cell function.