New Research Centre to Focus on Mammalian Single Cell Genomics

The Broad Institute and Fluidigm Corporation have announced the launch of a new research centre dedicated to accelerating the development of research methods and discoveries in mammalian single-cell genomics. The Single-Cell Genomics Center is also expected to act as a hub for collaboration among single-cell genomics researchers in many pioneering fields, including stem cells and cancer biology.

The Centre will be housed at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts and will feature a complete suite of Fluidigm single-cell tools, protocols and technologies, most notably the BioMark™ HD System. The Centre grew out of ongoing collaborations between the Broad Institute and Fluidigm that bridge multiple genomic platforms.

"With the Single-Cell Genomics Center, we will enable researchers to access the exciting new world of single-cell genomics, catalyse discoveries and advance our understanding of this important area of biology," said Wendy Winckler, PhD, Director of the Genetic Analysis Platform at the Broad Institute.

"The cell is the fundamental unit of life, and through greater understanding of it, researchers can make breakthroughs in large and important fields, such as cancer diagnosis and therapy, stem cell biology, vaccine development, and even the mounting battle against drug-resistant bacteria. We expect this centre to inspire, enable and accelerate efforts in the emerging field of single-cell research," said Gajus Worthington, President and CEO of Fluidigm.

Fluidigm's technology provides the capabilities required to analyse single cells: microfluidics and sensitivity at the nanoscale level; parallel processing of a large number of cells; and interrogation of a large number of gene targets.

Through this collaborative effort, the Centre intends to develop novel single-cell, microfluidic approaches for gene expression profiling, RNA/DNA sequencing and epigenetic analysis. The goal of these efforts is to make single-cell research accessible to the greater scientific community by developing and disseminating new workflows, reagents, bioinformatics tools, and data sets.

Fluidigm equipment is currently being installed at the Centre and first proposals for projects are being solicited from the Broad community of researchers. It is expected that the Single-Cell Genomics Center will become fully operational this quarter.