Linked optical and gene expression profiling of single cells at high-throughput

Area of Science:

• Single-cell biology
• Genomics
• Molecular imaging

Background:

• Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is crucial for cell characterization, but cannot capture all cellular phenotypes.
• Integrating optical analysis with sequencing offers molecular insights but current methods lack high throughput.
• There is a need for scalable platforms that combine optical and gene expression data at the single-cell level.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a high-throughput platform for simultaneous optical and gene expression profiling of single cells.
• To demonstrate the platform's capability for accurate multi-modal measurements on a large scale.
• To explore applications in cell cycle analysis and correlating protein expression with gene expression.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel high-throughput platform integrating optical detection (fluorescence) with RNA sequencing.
• Experimental validation using thousands of single cells in a single experimental run.
• Analysis of DNA and RNA changes across the cell cycle and correlation of antibody fluorescence with gene expression data.

Main Results:

• Accurate and simultaneous measurement of fluorescence and gene expression for thousands of single cells.
• Successful characterization of cell cycle-dependent DNA and RNA alterations.
• Demonstrated correlation between antibody-based protein detection and RNA sequencing data.

Conclusions:

• The developed platform significantly enhances throughput for multi-modal single-cell analysis.
• It enables precise correlation of optical measurements (e.g., antibody fluorescence) with gene expression profiles.
• The technology holds promise for scalable analysis of rare cell populations and complex biological systems.