Heterogeneity within cell populations is a major obstacle
for gathering accurate data for genomic and proteomic studies. Single cell
analysis has emerged as the platform technology for solving the problem of cell
heterogeneity in basic cell studies. A more precise understanding of single cell
behavior and differences between individual cells would lead to better
treatments for a wide range of diseases from cancer to diabetes. However, the
field has been hampered by many problems, such as low-throughput analysis, labor
intensive single cell manipulation/selection, and lack of user configurability.
Researchers at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State
University have developed a fully automated system for high throughput
single-cell analysis. The unique design includes a precise single cell
manipulator and an analysis chamber equipped with multiple sensors. The highly
modular cell chamber allows the user to perform multi-parameter experiments on a
single cell, multiple cells, and/or tissue samples in a controlled
microenvironment.
The automated device will make single cell selection fast
and efficient for biologics production. Furthermore, the device can be used for
characterization of single cell behavior for drug screening.
Potential Applications
- Biologics Production:
- Automated single cell selection
- Antibody development
- Stem cell differentiation
- Research:
- Genomics
- Proteomics
- Cell-cell interaction
- Applicable diseases:
- Cancer, diabetes, heart disease
Benefits and Advantages
- Fully Automated: Device can process large numbers of
single cells in a short amount of time without manual labor
- High throughput: Multiple measurements can be performed
at once in analysis chamber.
- Flexible: Highly modular design allows for user
configurability for testing multiple cell formats (single and multiple cells).
- Data management: Interface program allows for easy data
acquisition and management.
- Highly compatible: Additional instruments are easily
integrated into the system.
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For more information about the inventor(s) and their
research, please see
Dr. Meldrum's
directory webpage
Dr.
Meldrum's Biodesign directory webpage
Dr. Holl's
directory webpage
