Drosophila RNAi Screening Center

DRSC >> About Us >> Screening Costs

Note on Costs from the Director, April 2011. NIH has asked us to begin recovering a larger percentage of our budget from fees. This is similar to models at other screening centers. We keep costs down through cost-efficiency, including improved protocols, a small staff, bulk discounts, etc. Nevertheless, costs involved in reagent production, maintaining state-of-the-art equipment, etc. are high. We are happy to help estimate costs for grant applications. When appropriate we will provide letters of support for grant applications, including travel grants for visiting screeners. Ultimately we do not want cost alone to stand in the way of a strong screening project, so please contact the Director if you feel you are in that position and we will work with you to try to make screening possible.

Please see below for information about library fees and other costs (consumables, travel and lodging in Boston for visiting screeners, etc.) that you will need to anticipate.

DRSC Fees (Updated April 2011)

In all cases, the cost of shipping materials for off-site screening is additional (typically, we ask for a FedEx account number so shipping is billed directly to your institution). Also, we will have to add the cost of the assay plates if you are using specialized imaging plates such as those required for the Perkin Elmer Evotec Opera.

Screening Libraries

DRSC "2.0" Full-Genome Library (one screen in duplicate; on-site or off-site screening; 384-well format only): $6500.00
DRSC Sub-Libraries (one screen in duplicate; on-site of off-site screening; 384-well format only; Transmembane library excluded): $750.00
DRSC Transmembrane Sub-Library (one screen in duplicate; on-site or off-site screening; 384-well format only): $1500.00
Custom Library based on your gene list and our existing amplicons, Per 96-well Plate (enough dsRNA for many screens; on-site or off-site screening; includes a quality analysis and the PCR cherry-pick plate for later re-synthesis): $1200.00 per 96-well Plate
Over-Expression Library (one screen in duplicate; on-site screening only; 384-well format): $2000.00.

Access to additional Library Resources, such as Small Molecule Libraries and Mammalian RNAi Reagents

Reagents for Assay Development and Optimization

Sample Cell Lines: No charge (shipping costs only)
Set of Four Test Plates (on-site or off-site screening; 384-well format only): $250.00
Automated Individual Selection ("Cherry-Pick") of PCR Amplicons for dsRNA production by you: $4.00 per amplicon

Reagents for Screen Follow-Up

Automated Individual Selection ("Cherry-Pick") of PCR Amplicons for dsRNA production by you: $4.00 per amplicon
Custom Library based on your gene list and our existing amplicons (see above)

Screen Imaging

The Perkin Elmer Evotec Opera requires routine maintenance and regular replacement of expensive parts such as high-powered lasers that simply wear out with use, such that we must keep a service contract on the instrument. However, because the Opera gets used so much (often 6 days a week for 24 hours a day), we can divide the service fee by a large number of hours of usage, minimizing costs for all users.

Hourly Fee, Perkin Elmer Evotec Opera: $13.00 Per Hour. For a full-genome screen this can add roughly $3,000.00. It is difficult to estimate without knowing the specifics of the assay (number of exposures, Z-stacks or not, etc.). We work with screeners to optimize acquisition speed without compromising data quality.

Training Fee, Perkin Elmer Evotec Opera (for non-screening projects only): $250.00 per training (typically, three sessions of two hours each are required for users to become independent on the instrument)

Additional Costs Involved in High-Throughput Screening

Consumable Costs. The costs of cell culture media, sera, wash buffers, luciferase reagents, antibodies, fluorescent dyes, dsRNA for single-gene knockdown in all wells in addition to a library, etc. as well as consumables such as robot pipet tips and Opera compatible plates can add up fast. Please contact us to help estimate costs of your screen for planning or grant application purposes.

Travel and Lodging. For researchers visiting from afar, the cost of travel and lodging of the visiting screener is an additional cost that is absorbed by the group doing the screen. Please see our information page about staying in Boston or contact the Director for more information.