ABSTRACT

The advent of RNA interference ( RNAi) a decade ago (Fire et al. 1998) has greatly increased the ease of studying gene function allowing us to develop hitherto unimaginable tools. As one example, it is today possible to use high-trough put platforms to perform multiparametric analysis of gene function after genome-wide RNAi in invertebrate (Fraser et al. 2000, Gonczy et al. 2000) and mammalian (Collinet et al. 2010, Kittler et al. 2004)

cells, which may soon become a standard approach for basic research and identifi cation of possible therapeutic targets in vitro.