Xavier GUEZENNEC

Xavier GUEZENNEC is a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), leading IMCB RNAi and RNAseq platform and helping users to manage and automate cell based assay for siRNA phenotypic screens.

Prior to joining IMCB in 2016, Xavier was a Principal Application Scientist at Curiox Biosystems Pte Ltd, developing miniaturized immune-based and cell-based assay applications while engaging in research collaboration with A*STAR and SingHealth research centers in Singapore.

Prior to this role, Xavier worked as a research scientist on development of application for microfluidic devices. He also holds expertise in developing various in vivo mouse models. 

Xavier obtained his PhD from Radboud University in Nijmegen/Netherlands studying transcription regulation of Sin3 and NuRD HDAC complex. He performed post doctoral work in IMCB with Dr Dmitry Bulavin studying WIP1 oncogene in genetic mouse models in aging and metabolic disorders. 

Conducting phenotypic functional genomic screens using RNAi arrayed screen enables the identification of novel gene functions within your cell model of interest. This approach also provides valuable insights into cellular biology and helps detect changes that may signal disease.

Besides state-of-the-art high-content imaging systems, including the Opera Phenix, Operetta CLS, and Incucyte SX5, the IMCB RNAi screening facility is also equipped with Columbus imaging analysis platform and automated liquid handling systems (Agilent Bravo, Viaflo 384, and Multidrop Combi) that supports image segmentation and quantitative analysis and high-throughput cell-based assays. In addition, the facility maintains a collection of 384-well assay-ready plates with siRNA SMARTpools (Horizon) targeting the human and mouse genomes, kinome, phosphatome, and GPCR pathways. The facility also has a siRNA library against miRNA and  a Kinase inhibitor and bioactive compound drug library for drug based assay application.  Additionally, we have expertise in pooled CRISPR screening, custom CRISPR library design, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) analysis of CRISPR screens and RNAseq library generation and analysis.