Introduction of Collaborative Research Projects
Collaborative Research Projects (CRP) are defined as those experiments involving the RNAi library screening in a particular cell-based system that need prior research design and pilot tests by the users. CRP will be feasible under the following conditions: (i) the application project will be reviewed by a scientific committee and approved projects will notify the Users' Committee of the RNAi Core Facility; (ii) Approved CRP will be carried out by using Core's high through-put facilities, only if the workload of the Core at the time of the request allows it to support the project; (iii) a mutual agreement could be reached on the payment for the cost, and on the sharing of the credit and labor (please see the contract of CRP that has been approved by the Users' Committee of the RNAi Core Facility). In addition, the principal investigators shall send at least one research personnel to the core facility to participate in CRP during the collaboration period. The figure below illustrates the flow of the CRP.
Requirements for Applying CRP for RNAi Library Screening
Please include the followiags in your CRP application (CRP application form)
1.
Provide a brief title for the project.
2.
Provide an overview of your project goals (some context for your data set).
3.
Describe the cell-based system you hope to screen in your biological process/pathway.
4.
Please list one review article or other publication on the functions described above (not necessarily authored by you) that would provide good background reading for the Review Committee. If possible, please send a PDF of the article. (download CRP application form)
5.
Please provide the protocol you plan to use for screening. Also provide data showing that your cell-based system is feasible for high throughput screening and it has been optimized in 96-well format plate.
6.
Do you have a control condition for your assay that mimics the phenotype of a desired screening positive or negative? If yes, please describe. If no, please explain.
7.
Is there any special safety considerations associated with your assay? Do you have secondary assays ready for further characterization of genes that score as positives in your primary screen? Please describe at least one of them briefly and explain how they will help further characterize and prioritize your hits.
8.
Please give a realistic estimate as to when you think your assay will be ready to run pilot screens in the RNAi screening facility. Please note whether or not you are waiting for funding to start this project.
International
We also encourage overseas researchers to collaborate on the use of the core facilities for RNAi-related research, including the library screening. For this, CRP could be established with the local scientists through the core.
Please write to
Dr. Yu-Chi Chou or
Dr. James Shen for further details of the international collaboration.