Cenix BioScience GmbH

Organization and funding: Cenix BioScience GmbH (based in Dresden, Germany: link) is a privately held biotechnology company founded in 1999, specializing in advanced, cell-based applications of RNAi for the discovery and functional characterization of novel therapeutic targets, biomarkers and drug candidates. Led by Drs. Christophe Echeverri (lead founder, CEO/CSO) and Birte Sönnichsen (COO), Cenix counts 34 staff, 28 of which form the scientific team combining both laboratory and IT operations that drive the company's core offerings: advanced research services. The revenues from these RNAi-based discovery projects with both pharma (e.g. Bayer, Schering, Merck KgaA, etc..) and academic clients, have secured the company's continued profitability for the last 4 years running. Cenix has also maintained active R&D activities to further develop its technology base both on its own and within research consortia supported by 7 major grants from German federal granting programs.. Cenix scientists have successfully completed genome-scale RNAi screening projects using various human and rodent cell-based models in a wide range of disease areas including oncology, as well as metabolic, cardiovascular and infectious diseases. Cenix particular area of specialisation is combining HT cell-based applications of RNAi with high content, multi-parametric readout assays, to extract the richest possible analyses from these datasets, with maximal patho-physiological relevance.

Key PIs and their roles:Dr. Maria Mirotsu has lead major RNAi studies for clients and several internal RNAi optimization studies in disease relevant cell systems at Cenix, including primary B and T lymphocytes and the monocyte cell line U937.

Five relevant publications
  1. Sönnichsen B, Koski LB, Walsh A, Marshall P, Neumann B, Brehm M, Alleaume A-M, Artelt J, Bettencourt P, Cassin E, Hewitson M, Holz C, Khan M, Lazik S, Martin C, Nitschke B, Ruer M, Stamford J, Winzi M, Heinkel R, Röder M, Finell J, Häntsch H, Jones SJ, Jones M, Piano F, Gunsalus KC, Oegema K, Gönczy P, Coulson A, Hyman AA, Echeverri CJ. Full genome RNAi profiling of early embryogenesis in C. elegans. 2005. Nature 434: 462-9.
  2. Gunsalus KC, Ge H, Schetter AJ, Goldberg DS, Han JD, Hao T, Berriz GF, Bertin N, Huang J, Chuang LS, Li N, Mani R, Hyman AA, Sönnichsen B, Echeverri CJ, Roth FP, Vidal M, Piano F. Predictive models of molecular machines involved in Caenorhabditis elegans early embryogenesis. 2005. Nature 436: 861-5.
  3. Pelkmans L, Fava E, Grabner H, Hannus M, Habermann B, Krausz E and Zerial M. Genome-wide analysis of human kinases in clathrin- and caveolae/raft-mediated endocytosis. 2005. Nature 436: 78-86.
  4. Echeverri CJ, Perrimon N. High-throughput RNAi screening in cultured cells: a user's guide. 2006. Nature Reviews Genetics 7: 373-84.
  5. Echeverri CJ, Beachy PA, Baum B, Boutros M, Buchholz F, Chanda SK, Downward J, Ellenberg J, Fraser AG, Hacohen N, Hahn WC, Jackson AL, Kiger A, Linsley PS, Lum L, Ma Y, Mathey-Prévôt B, Root DE, Sabatini DM, Taipale J, Perrimon N & Bernards R. Minimizing the risk of reporting false positives in large-scale RNAi screens. 2006. Nature Methods 3(10):777-9.

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