Policies & Application

The primary goal of the DRSC is to make it possible for researchers to perform genome-wide RNAi screens in Drosophila cells on-site at our facility.

We also offer other screening and validation reagents, and provide support for on- and off-site screening.

A completed application form must be submitted and approved prior to any on-site visit for screening. Completed applications can be submitted to applications@flyrnai.org. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the costs involved with screening before you apply.

After an application has been approved, a signature on our Data Sharing Agreement is required prior to scheduling an on-site visit.

Who should apply?

Applications are welcome from potential screeners in the U.S. or abroad who have designed and optimized and assay for 384-well format.

Demonstrated success of the assay in 384-well format is our primary consideration. If you do not have access to 384-well format equipment but are otherwise prepared, please contact the Director about scheduling 384-well optimization at the DRSC.

Applications are also welcome from those seeking a letter of support or collaboration for a grant application that includes a request for funds for the screen.

Is my application considered confidential?

Yes. Both informal inquiries and applications are considered confidential.

What is the review process?

Applications are reviewed by the director in a timely manner. The director may contact you with questions about your application. Sometimes, you will be asked to complete additional experiments prior to formal approval (e.g. additional optimization or control experiments). Outright rejections are rare and can be appealed to a scientific advisory committee.

Our facility has a limited capacity. If scheduling becomes a problem, priority will be given to labs and researchers that have not previously performed a screen at the DRSC and to more innovative screens.

The DRSC strongly requests that screeners appropriately cite the DRSC in a publication that includes data obtained at the DRSC. In many cases, this may also be appropriate to do in cases where a significant amount of DRSC data is analyzed (e.g. full screen re-analysis or meta-analysis of DRSC datasets).

The DRSC requests that a version of the following text be included in the Acknowledgments section: "We thank the Drosophila RNAi Screening Center at Harvard Medical School (NIH/NIGMS 2R01GM067761) for providing RNAi libraries, laboratory space, bioinformatics tools and other support for the screen."

What if I apply to do a screen that is similar to another ongoing or previous screen?

Check our publications page to see what territory has already been charted. Of course, you should also search the literature for similar or related screens done at other facilities or laboratories.

There can be compelling reasons to do a screen that is similar to one you or another group did in the past, such as if detection methods have improved or new reagents are available. That said, if we have scheduling problems at our facility, priority would be given to new screeners and more innovative screens.

How does the DRSC handle receipt of applications for similar screens?

When we receive applications for very similar screens, we encourage but do not require the groups to communicate with one another.

To do this, we notify each group that a similar screen has been proposed, initiated or completed at the DRSC. Then, we ask each group for permission to provide contact information to the other group(s). If the groups are open to communication with one another, we make the introductions. At that point, we step out of the way and decisions are left to the individual groups. In some past cases, this has led to collaboration or co-submission of papers.

If each screen is accepted on its own merits and the different groups want to continue independently, we will not get in the way of that happening.