Using pooled miR30-shRNA library for cancer lethal and synthetic lethal screens

Pooled shRNA library is a powerful, rapid, and cost-effective technology to carry out functional genomic screens in mammalian cells. This approach has been applied extensively to identify genetic dependencies in cancer cells that might be exploited for therapeutic purposes. In this chapter we provide a detailed protocol for using the Hannon-Elledge miR30-based library to conduct dropout screens in cancer cell lines. This protocol is readily adaptable to other pooled shRNA libraries and should facilitate the functional annotation of the human genome.