DPFS Resource request (University of Sheffield) A High-content high-throughput Screening Facility in an Academic Setting

由于最近多国努力对蠕虫和人类等不同物种的整个基因组进行测序，我们现在知道人类和低等生物共享非常相似的基因组。这一发现改变了我们对人类生物学的理解，因为我们认识到，在简单生物体中由这些基因控制的许多细胞和生化过程也在我们自己身上运作。我们对细胞和器官系统的控制的大部分知识都来自于对一些所谓的？模式生物？特别是果蝇和热带鱼（俗称斑马鱼）。这些生物体的研究有可能彻底改变我们对人类疾病的理解，诊断和治疗，这是MRC发育和生物医学遗传学中心活动的基础。该中心的一个主要目标是鼓励我们的基础研究成果迅速转化为临床应用。该提案将通过提供筛选可以调节模式生物中致病过程的小分子的手段来促进这种翻译。这些小分子将为探索这些过程的分子基础提供强有力的工具，在某些情况下，还将为开发治疗这些过程的新药提供线索。

Thanks to the recent multi-national efforts to sequence the entire genomes of species as diverse as worms and humans, we now know that humans and lower organisms share remarkably similar sets of genes. This finding has transformed our understanding of human biology, through the realisation that many of the cellular and biochemical processes controlled by these genes in simple organisms also operate in ourselves. Most of our knowledge about the control of cells and organ systems has come from the study of a few so-called ?model organisms?, especially the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and the tropical fish Danio rerio (commonly known as the zebrafish). Studies of such organisms have the potential to revolutionise our understanding, diagnosis and treatment of human disease, a premise that underpins the activities of the MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics. A key aim of the Centre is to encourage the rapid translation of our basic research findings into clinical application. This proposal will facilitate such translation by providing the means to screen for small molecules that can modulate pathogenic processes in model organisms. Such small molecules will provide powerful tools for probing the molecular basis of these processes and in some cases will provide leads for the developments of new drugs for their treatment.