One of the major problems inherent in the gene expression analysis of single cells is the large amount of sample handling involved and the subsequent high risk of contamination as cells isolated and harvested using laser microdissection are transferred manually to an assay plate for expression analysis. Until now, the only way to safeguard the genetic data collected from cells of interest and not from surrounding tissue has been to perform numerous repeat experiments.
Single cells are cut out and isolated from the surrounding tissue or cell culture using the laser microdissection offered by the PALM Microbeam. The SlideCollector 48 then positions any one of the AmpliGrid’s reaction sites directly above the dissected cell, which is lifted out of the specimen and into the reaction site by the PALM Microbeam’s laser pressure catapulting (LPC) capabilities. As single cells can be harvested easily in this way, without contaminating tissue, conventional cell pooling steps are unnecessary.
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