Alithea Genomics introduces extraction-free, RNA-seq for 3D drug screening and toxicology
The MERCURIUS™ Spheroid DRUG-seq is a novel, extraction-free RNA sequencing library preparation kit built for 3D spheroid models
10 Oct 2025
Alithea Genomics has launched its MERCURIUS™ Spheroid DRUG-seq, a novel, extraction-free RNA sequencing library preparation kit built for 3D spheroid models. This advancement extends Alithea’s MERCURIUS DRUG-seq technology into physiologically relevant 3D systems, bringing simplicity, sensitivity, and throughput to drug screening in more in vivo–like cellular environments.
With MERCURIUS™ Spheroid DRUG-seq, researchers can bypass conventional RNA extraction and pre-amplification, enabling direct processing of spheroids in an optimized lysis buffer. The streamlined, one-day workflow delivers full transcriptome coverage in a massively multiplexed manner, making the method ideal for large-scale mechanistic and toxicity studies in 3D models.
MERCURIUS™ Spheroid DRUG-seq successfully detected >14,000 genes per sample at ~1.7 million reads and is compatible with Illumina and AVITI sequencers (with broader compatibility upon request).
“MERCURIUS™ Spheroid DRUG-seq follows our strong belief that 3D biology deserves transcriptomic profiling at scale. We can now bring full transcriptome insights into spheroid models without sacrificing throughput or simplicity,” said Riccardo Dainese CEO and Co-founder of Alithea Genomics. “We believe this tool will unlock new layers of transcriptomic discovery in drug screening and toxicology, enabling researchers to explore disease biology in architectures far closer to human tissue.”
Alithea Genomics will be giving live demonstrations of the Spheroid DRUG-seq workflow and will be discussing use cases across 3D drug screening, toxicity assessment, and functional genomics at ASHG (October 14–18 in Boston, USA) and ELRIG (October 21–22 in Liverpool, UK).