A platform for massively parallel metabolite analysis in single cells

细胞是生物学的基本单位。然而，在过去，虽然我们可以用显微镜看到复杂组织中的单个细胞，但很难知道每个细胞内部是什么——每个细胞中哪些基因被打开或关闭？每个细胞是如何从我们的饮食中吸收和处理丰富的生物分子的？一块组织或一个器官中有多少种不同类型的细胞？在过去的5年里，随着单细胞技术彻底改变了生物学，这种情况发生了巨大变化。而不是在整个组织中观察哪些基因是开着的或关着的。“大脑”或“肝脏”)或整个肿瘤，我们现在可以看到该组织或肿瘤中每个细胞的基因是开启还是关闭的。这改变了我们对癌症生物学或发育生物学的看法。然而，目前的单细胞技术只能检测RNA和DNA序列——它们不能测量存在于每个细胞中的成千上万的小分子和代谢物。这是我们认识上的一大漏洞。

The cell is the fundamental unit of biology. However, in the past while we could see single cells within a complicated tissue using a microscope, it was very hard to know what was inside each individual cell - which genes were turned on or off in each cell? How was each cell taking up and processing the rich soup of biological molecules from our diet? How many different types of cell are present in a lump of tissue or in a single organ? This has changed dramatically in the last 5 years as single-cell technologies have revolutionized biology. Instead of having to look at which genes are on or off in an entire mass of tissue (e.g. 'brain' or 'liver') or in a whole tumour, we can now look at which genes are on or off in each individual cell in that tissue or tumour. This has transformed how we look at cancer biology or developmental biology. However, current single cell technologies can only examine RNA and DNA sequences - they cannot measure the many thousands of small molecules and metabolites that are present in each cell. This is a major hole in our understanding. The Fraser group has invented a new method that will allow us to measure hundreds of metabolites in parallel in single cells in a way that is completely compatible with current single cell technologies that measure gene expression. With our invention, we will be able to read both gene expression AND metabolite levels in single cells - this will provide a dramatically new way to see metabolism and drug uptake and processing in each cell of a complex tissue. The proposal here is to fund a deep market analysis. We plan to protect our invention by filing a patent in the next 1-2 months but from that point we will need to engage with knowledge leaders and potential industry partners to see the best route to take our invention to market. This market analysis will be an essential guide to drive this.