The pharmaceutical industry is faced with a range of challenges with the ever‐escalating costs of drug development and a drying out of drug pipelines. By harnessing advances in ‐omics technologies and moving away from the standard, reductionist model of drug discovery, there is significant potential to reduce costs and improve efficacy. Embedding systems biology approaches in drug discovery, which seek to investigate underlying molecular mechanisms of potential drug targets in a network context, will reduce attrition rates by earlier target validation and the introduction of novel targets into the currently stagnant market. Systems biology approaches also have the potential to assist in the design of multidrug treatments and repositioning of existing drugs, while stratifying patients to give a greater personalization of medical treatment. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2014, 6:1–11. doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1253 This article is categorized under: Translational, Genomic, and Systems Medicine > Therapeutic Methods Translational, Genomic, and Systems Medicine > Translational Medicine

RNA sequencing is a technique widely used to identify and characterize gene expression patterns. We demonstrate that this method can be applied to screen expression profiles in mammary epithelial cells cultured in 3D, supported by a natural laminin-rich extracellular matrix, but requires several specific steps in the preparation of the RNA samples. Here we describe the use of RNA sequencing to analyze mRNA patterns in MCF10A human mammary epithelial cells cultured under 3D conditions in a laminin-rich extracellular matrix. We focus on our methods for total RNA extraction at early time points during the formation and maturation of 3D acinus structures in these cultures and provide examples of our results and downstream analysis.

Planning a symposium organized by PhD students is a challenging prospect. Insight from the organizers of three such symposia sheds light on the highs and lows of the experience.