This seminar will be held in person in Towne 337 and on zoom (check email for link or contact ksas@seas.upenn.edu).

Genetic screens are critical for the systematic identification of genes underlying cellular phenotypes. While pooling gene perturbations greatly increases screening throughput, this approach was not yet compatible with the high-content imaging of complex and dynamic cellular phenotypes. Our group recently developed optical pooled screening using in situ sequencing-by-synthesis to link pooled perturbations with their associated visual phenotypic outcomes at the single-cell level in mammalian cells. We have since established this approach for very large-scale screens where hundreds of phenotypic parameters are recorded for each cell.  I will provide an overview of the applicability of this kind of approach and discuss in more detail two large-scale, high-content collaborative screening projects, one related to intracellular responses to viral infection, and another focused on human cell division phenotypes.