Alithea Genomics, a leader in next-generation transcriptomic solutions, today announced the commercial launch of 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.”

Researchers and industry professionals are invited to visit Alithea Genomics at ASHG (Boston) and ELRIG (Liverpool) to see live demonstrations of the Spheroid DRUG-seq workflow and discuss use cases across 3D drug screening, toxicity assessment, and functional genomics.

Alithea Genomics is now accepting orders for both the kits and the services.

About RNA-seq in 3D Models and Organoids

Organoid and spheroid culture systems recapitulate key structural and functional features of in vivo tissues, making them powerful models for drug discovery and toxicology. However, conventional RNA-seq workflows often struggle with the complexity of 3D matrices, limited sample input, and RNA extraction challenges. MERCURIUS™ Spheroid DRUG-seq addresses these bottlenecks by providing a high-throughput RNA-seq solution tailored for spheroids and organoids.

About Alithea Genomics

Alithea Genomics empowers researchers in biotech, pharma, and academic settings with massively parallel, affordable transcriptomic technologies. Its MERCURIUS™ DRUG-seq, BRB-seq and FLASH-seq platforms enable efficient, high-sensitivity RNA profiling across bulk samples, single cells and now 3D systems. Founded in 2020 at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland), Alithea continues to expand its global footprint with offices in Europe and North America.