MORPHEUS - Combination of in silico and in vitro methods for the detection of substance effects using morphological and molecular fingerprints via HT/HC screening
Funded by: BMBF
Funding period: 2022 - 2025
Coordinator: BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment/Bf3R
Objective
Further development of a cell-based high-throughput method - the E-Morph Assay - (Kornhuber et al.short foret alii (lat. "and others"), 2021) using the "Cell Painting" method and artificial intelligence to identify characteristic changes in cell morphology caused by substances with hormonal effects. With the help of these "morphological fingerprints", computer models are to be developed that will in future make it possible to predict possible hormonal effects of chemicals based on their structural properties ("molecular fingerprints").
3R Relevance
With the development of an animal-free test strategy using in silico and in vitro methods, the MORPHEUS (MORPHology-based Endocrine disruptor Screening) project aims to help avoid unnecessary animal testing in legally required toxicological tests and biomedical research.
Literatur
von Coburg, E., & Dunst, S. (2026). The Cell Painting PLUS Method: Phenotypic Profiling Using Iterative Staining-Elution Cycles. Phenotypic Screening: Methods and Protocols (pp. 31-50). External Link:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4985-5_2
von Coburg, E., Wedler, M., Muino, J.M. et al.short foret alii (lat. "and others") Cell Painting PLUS: expanding the multiplexing capacity of Cell Painting-based phenotypic profiling using iterative staining-elution cycles. Nat Commun 16, 3857 (2025). External Link:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58765-8
Wedler, M., von Coburg, E., Muino, J. M., Valentin, L., Korber, N., Dunst, S., & Liu, S. (2026). Cell Painting PLUS: An Iterative Staining-Elution Protocol for High-Content Phenotypic Screenings. Curr Protoc, 6(4), e70368. External Link:https://doi.org/10.1002/cpz1.70368
Wedler, M., von Coburg, E., Muino, J. M., Valentin, L., Körber, N., Dunst, S., & Liu, S. (2026) Cell Painting PLUS: An Iterative Staining-Elution Protocol for High-Content Phenotypic Screenings. Curr Protoc, 6(4), e70368. External Link:https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18184315
von Coburg, E., Wedler, M., Muino, J. M., Wolff, C., Körber, N., Dunst, S. & Liu, S. (2025) Cell Painting PLUS: expanding the multiplexing capacity of Cell Painting-based phenotypic profiling using iterative staining-elution cycles. Nat Commun 16, 3857 (2025) External Link:https://zenodo.org/records/14982928