Abstract

Biopharmaceutical companies utilize high-throughput drug screens to understand targets of regulators in biological processes and to identify new preclinical lead molecules. Screening through high-throughput transcriptomic profiling enables a global view of gene regulation in a model-agnostic format. Utilizing DRUG-seq to generate large-scale RNA sequencing data may accelerate pharmacological profiling of the compound library (e.g., mechanisms of action, off-target profiling). Miniaturizing drug screening helps to accelerate throughput while simultaneously reducing costs. The Echo 655T instrument is an acoustic liquid handler that allows for miniaturization of the drug screen process through the rapid and accurate transfer of compounds at volumes as low as 2.5nL without the use of plastic tips.Bulk RNA barcoding and sequencing (BRB-seq) enables the use of high-throughput RNA library preparation and sequencing by drastically reducing price and preparation time through the utilization of RNA barcoding and multiplexed library preparation. BRB-seq prepares 3’ RNA sequencing libraries suited for differential gene expression analysis. The MERCURIUS™Cell Lysate BRB-seq Library Preparation kit enables the use of crude cell lysates directly in reverse transcription saving on cost and time. The entire automated BRB-seq workflow from cell lysis to sequencing-ready DNA libraries can be done in 7 hours for 96 or 384 samples on the Biomeki7 dual hybrid workstation.In this poster, we describe the combined DRUG-seq workflow of miniaturized high-throughput drug screening using the Echo 655T acoustic liquid handler and the downstream automation of BRB-seq on the Biomeki7 dual hybrid workstation significantly reducing hands-on time for sample preparation and improving sample reproducibility.