Single cell RNA-Seq (scRNA Seq) is a tool that enables simple and robust access to the transcriptomes of thousands of single cells – giving unprecedented insight into tissues at the level of individual cells. This offers vital information and data and is key to understanding many diseases and immunity.
This method enables analysis of millions of single cells in a high-throughput manner. This is in contrast to traditional techniques, that either allowed analysis of a few genes in thousands of individual cells (e.g., in situ hybridization), or the expression profile of thousands of genes, but only on a tissue homogenate.
To meet the demand for simple and robust, high throughput, single cell transcriptomics, reliable droplet-based protocols for single cell RNA-Seq were published in 2015 (Macosko E., et al. “Highly Parallel Genome-wide Expression Profiling of Individual Cells Using Nanoliter Droplets.” Cell 161:1202). These allow thousands of cells to be captured individually in droplets, together with lysis reagents and a barcoded bead, all within in a few minutes. Inside a droplet, an individual cell is lysed, and its mRNA is captured on uniquely barcoded primers attached to the bead; the beads are recovered from the emulsion and subject to bulk reverse transcription, library preparation, and sequencing. Each cell’s transcriptome can be identified by clustering by barcode.
Dolomite Bio has developed systems to execute the Drop-seq (described in Macosko et al., 2015) and other, related protocols, leading to rapid adoption worldwide. Dolomite Bio’s Nadia Instrument allows cells to be efficiently captured into droplets at high speed.
The fully automated Nadia Instrument guides users through all the relevant Drop-seq steps to encapsulate up to 8 samples, in parallel in under 20 minutes. Over 50,000 single cells can be captured per cartridge in a run.
