Platform 1
Platform

Cell-Seq™ — Scenic’s target discovery powerhouse

Our proprietary functional genomics engine, Cell-Seq™

Cell-Seq™, Scenic’s proprietary function-first genomics platform, enables the systematic identification of high-confidence therapeutic targets. Cell-Seq creates high-resolution disease maps that profile previously uncharted biological pathways and disease biology. This allows to uncover completely novel, potent drug targets that enable the development of first-in-class, disease-modifying therapies and form the basis for Scenic’s pipeline. We also leverage the power of Cell-Seq and its associated data warehouse in collaborations with pharma partners.

Innovative platform, grounded in strong science

Cell-Seq™ is disease-agnostic and has been broadly effective in finding new targets across therapeutic indications. Validated through 17 publications in leading journals including Nature and Science, Cell-Seq™ has attracted collaborations with global pharmaceutical leaders Genentech, Bristol Myers Squibb, Alnylam and Ono Pharmaceutical. Together, these partnerships reinforce the platform’s ability to uncover breakthrough biology and generate the next generation of first-in-class medicines.

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Our platform, Cell-Seq, enables a comprehensive overview beyond modifier genes for many different disease phenotypes to select the best targets.

Cell-Seq uses special human cells that carry only a single copy of every gene (haploid), instead of the usual two (diploid) In addition to the primary disease-causing mutation, individual genes in billions of these haploid human cells are inactivated to create a very large library of mutant cells. This inactivation involves a process called gene-trap mutagenesis so that nearly every gene in the genome is inactivated/disabled, often several thousands of times.

The library of mutant cells is then stained using fluorescent labelling for a specific disease/pathway marker, such as a disease-associated process, to quantify how the gene mutation affects the cell’s health.

Cells with the cellular phenotype of interest are isolated using a FACS (fluorescent activated cell sorter) and the experimentally introduced mutations are determined using modern DNA sequencing technology.

Bioinformatics analysis then identifies every gene that modifies the cellular phenotype to enable high resolution “disease maps” to be generated so that the best disease modifiers can be viewed and then selected for target validation and drug development. Hundreds of these “maps” have been generated to date.

The Cell-Seq platform is used on healthy and diseased cells in parallel to unlock disease-specific modifier genes, including disease suppressors. In addition, our proprietary data-mining tools allow to map previously uncharted biological pathways and interrogate disease biology in an unprecedented fashion.

Masud et al., 2025, Nature
https://go.nature.com/4oYlIUK/

Nyame et al., 2025, Nature
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40335701/

Research Briefing, 2025, Nature
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40335801/

McLelland et al., 2023, Nature
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37648867/

De Zan et al., 2020, Science Signaling
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32934076/

Logtenberg et al., 2019, Nature Medicine
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30833751/

Nieuwenhuis et al., 2017, Science
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29146869/

Brockmann et al., 2017, Nature
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28562590/

Blomen et al., 2015, Science
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26472760/

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We are building the largest proprietary data warehouse of unchartered disease biology

We have identified novel drug targets for over a dozen diseases and built a robust pipeline of first-in-class small molecule inhibitors based on these targets. Discover our ongoing programs of discovery, development and collaborations!

See our pipeline