Establishing a single cell genomics facility

基因组学是对细胞全部DNA含量的研究，它从根本上改变了我们对生物系统的理解，因为它可以用来识别任何特定有机体中的所有基因。我们可以利用这些信息来预测生物系统是如何运作的，然后通过进一步的实验来检验这些假设。转录学是基因组学领域的一个分支。这涉及到对细胞中所有RNA的研究，并可用于确定哪些基因在任何特定环境中都是活跃的。然而，直到最近，还不可能分析单个细胞的基因组和转录本，因为所需的技术使用了大量的DNA，因此我们目前的大多数知识来自于组织或细胞培养的大群细胞。此外，一些不能大量培养或分离的微生物根本没有被研究过。然而，已经开发出能够均匀扩增核酸的新方法，现在可以针对单个细胞进行实验，早期研究表明，细胞群体在DNA和RNA水平上可能是极端异质性的，我们需要测量这种异质性以正确理解潜在的生物学。为了进行单细胞基因组实验，我们将建立一个专门的干净实验室，配备一套分离单细胞和快速处理核酸以进行基因组和转录分析的工具。该实验室将毗邻利物浦基因组研究中心，并由其运营。英国最先进的DNA测序实验室之一。这项建议是六所活跃的研究大学和四个国家基因组测序和分析设施之间的合作。我们的目标是通过付费访问系统使该设施向英国所有研究人员开放，该系统将允许对设备进行再投资，并将涵盖工作人员支持。

Genomics, which is the study of the entire DNA content of a cell, has radically changed our understanding of biological systems as it can be used to identify all of the genes in any particular organism. We can use this information to predict how biological systems function and then test these hypotheses through further experimentation. Transcriptomics is a sub-branch of the field of genomics. This involves the study of all of the RNA in a cell and can be used to identify what genes are active in any particular environment. However, until recently it has not been possible to analyse genomes and transcriptomes in single cells, as the techniques required use large amounts of DNA, hence most of our current knowledge is taken from large groups of cells from tissues or cell culture. Also, some microbes that can't be cultured or isolated in large numbers have not been studied at all. However, new methods that enable uniform amplification of nucleic acids have been developed and experiments can now be directed individual cells, and early studies have demonstrated that cell populations can be extreme heterogeneous at the DNA and RNA level and we need to measure this heterogeneity to properly understand the underlying biology. In order to perform single cell genomic experiments we will develop a dedicated clean lab with a suite of tools for isolating single cells and rapidly processing nucleic acids for genomic and transcriptomic analysis. The lab will be adjacent to, an operated by, the Liverpool Centre for Genomic Research. One of the UKs most advanced DNA sequencing laboratories. This proposal is collaboration between six research active universities and four national facilities for genomic sequencing and analysis. We aim to make the facility open-access to all researchers in the UK through a pay for access system which will allow reinvestment in equipment and will cover staff support.