A new device about the size of a nine-volt battery allows scientists to simultaneously analyze 300 cells individually. The organization of cells emulates the action of a pinball machine.

University
of British Columbia researchers have invented a silicone chip that
could make genetic analysis far more sensitive, rapid, and
cost-effective by allowing individual cells to fall into place like
balls in a pinball machine.

The
UBC device – about the size of a nine-volt battery – allows scientists
to simultaneously analyze 300 cells individually by routing fluid
carrying cells through microscopic tubes and valves. Once isolated into
their separate chambers, the cells’ RNA can be extracted and replicated
for further analysis.

By
enabling such “single-cell analysis,” the device could accelerate
genetic research and hasten the use of far more detailed tests for
diagnosing cancer.

Single-cell
analysis is emerging as the gold standard of genetic research because
tissue samples, even those taken from a single tumor, contain a mixture
of normal cells and various types of cancer cells – the most important
of which may be present in only very small numbers and impossible to
distinguish.

So
standard genetic tests, which require large numbers of cells, capture
only an average “composite picture” of thousands or millions of
different cells – obscuring their true nature and the interactions
between them.

“It’s
like trying to trying to understand what makes a strawberry different
from a raspberry by studying a blended fruit smoothie,” says Carl
Hansen, an assistant professor in the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy and
the Centre for High-Throughput Biology, who led the team that developed
the device.

click to enlarge Single-cell analysis is emerging as the gold standard of genetic research because the most important cells in a tissue sample may be present in only very small numbers and impossible to distinguish through other methods.

The device, described and validated in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
was developed by Hansen’s team, in collaboration with  researchers from
BC Cancer Agency and the Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics.

The
device’s ease of use and cost-effectiveness arise from its integration
of almost the entire process of cell analysis – not just separating the
cells, but mixing them with chemical reagents to highlight their genetic
code and analyzing the results by measuring fluorescent light emitted
from the reaction. Now all of that can be done on the chip.

“Single-cell
genetic analysis is vital in a host of areas, including stem cell
research and advanced cancer biology and diagnostics,” Hansen says. “But
until now, it has been too costly to become widespread in research, and
especially for use in health care. This technology, and other
approaches like it, could radically change the way we do both basic and
applied biomedical research, and would make single-cell analysis a more
plausible option for treating patients – allowing clinicians to
distinguish various cancers from one another and tailor their treatments
accordingly.”

The
research was funded by Genome BC, Genome Canada, Western Economic
Diversification Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the
Terry Fox Foundation, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council.

SOURCE