University of Copenhagen seeks to acquire a real-time PCR system capable of generating gene expression data from single cells.
— The system must meet the fundamental statistical requirement of single cell gene expression and thus collect data from a statistically significant number of single cells and genes simultaneously,
— The system must allow up to 96 single cells x 96 assays per chip/array for single cell gene expression analysis with high reproducibility and linearity of results to ensure accuracy,
— The system must be able to provide high quality data from down to 1 picogram input,
— The system must enable automatic, accurate dispensing into nanoliter reaction volumes (1-10nL) with minimal hands on time,
— The system must have the ability to pre-amplify samples for thousands of assays simultaneously,
— The system must be flexible in the choice of assay chemistry and configuration,
— The system must be such that contamination is not possible and that samples and assays are mixed in reaction chambers that are physically and individually separate,
— The analysis software must feature heat maps for intuitive data analysis and the option to investigate amplification- and melt curve plots.
The Fluidigm BioMarkTM system fulfills the above mentioned criteria and thus enables single cell gene expression analysis. Due to the unique and patented microfluidic technology simultaneous investigation of 96 different genes expressed from each of 96 single cells on a single chip is possible. The Fluidigm BioMarkTM system additionally offers unique nanoliter reaction volume control and requires significantly less sample than traditional PCR methods. The Fluidigm microfluidic technology ensures complete physical separation of every reaction chamber and thus avoids any risk of cross contamination. A high number of publications on single cell gene expression performed on the BioMarkTM system have been published in top-tier scientific journals, emphasizing the system’s effectiveness in single cell analysis.