Alithea Genomics MERCURIUS Spheroid DRUG-seq RNA sequencing library preparation kit

Alithea Genomics has launched MERCURIUS Spheroid DRUG-seq — a novel, extraction-free RNA sequencing library preparation kit built for 3D spheroid models. The product 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.

The kit enables researchers to bypass conventional RNA extraction and pre-amplification, enabling direct processing of spheroids in an optimised lysis buffer. The streamlined, one-day workflow delivers full transcriptome coverage in a multiplexed manner, making the method suitable for large-scale mechanistic and toxicity studies in 3D models.

The kit has 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). It is expected to unlock new layers of transcriptomic discovery in drug screening and toxicology, enabling researchers to explore disease biology in architectures far closer to human tissue.