The sci-Plex technique holds promise for cell biology research in cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, prenatal medicine and  many other medical and basic science areas. Results from proof-of-concept testing are reported today  in Science.

Most high-throughput , cell-response screening tools provide either a course readout, such as cell survival or proliferation,  or a highly specific finding,  such as a blocked enzyme.

sciPlex gives a more global view of what happens inside a variety of different cells when exposed to various agents.  The information could help in exploring, for example, the way a drug works, how cells become resistant to treatment, or why a therapy is effective for some people but not others. sciPlex might also be a helpful  tool in some new research fields,  such  as studies of synthetic embryos,  reprogrammed cells or organoids. 

Cole Trapnell and Jay Shendure of the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and of the Brotman Baty Institute in Seattle oversaw the sci-Plex development, which was led by Sanjay  Srivatsan,  José L. McFaline-Figueroa, and Vinjay Ramani.