Single-cell Multi-Omics: Marrying RNA Seq to protein expression and more

Want to expand the realms of your research?  Want to study single-cells in a new way?  Want to find the impossible?

Multimodal analysis enables the simultaneous measurement of multiple modalities or the integration of data from multiple experiments. For a long time now, the advantages of sequencing mRNA (scRNA – Seq) in individual cells, to understand cellular heterogeneity and regulation, have been widely acknowledged. Non-destructive methods of cell analysis like flow cytometry have also evolved alongside, now enabling multi-parameter measurements of protein marker expression. Other methods like mass spectrometry and protein profiling have also helped gain insights into proteomics. The obvious next step is to integrate all the ‘omics’ approaches by combining the data sets to get a holistic view of both gene and protein expression, enabling unparalleled insights into the actual biology of cells. This new paradigm has been enabled largely due to advancements in technology and by developments in biochemistry and molecular biology. The recent years have seen great improvements in the sensitivity and robustness of these experimental approaches.

The journal Nature Methods chose single-cell multimodal omics as the Method of the Year 2019. This is a big acknowledgment of this new paradigm in cell biology research.

Single-cell Multi-Omics by BD

BD FACSMelody Cell Sorter

In keeping with these developments, BD presents its Multi-Omics portfolio, which is specially designed to give you an unprecedented view of single cells. With efficient cell sorting, cDNA library preparation, single-cell mRNA sequencing, and data analysis, our Multi-Omics workflow helps you obtain novel biological insights into single-cells. New data on protein profiling and gene expression can be obtained using this efficient workflow, helping you delve more deeply into the working of single-cells.

The workflow begins with cell sorting by the BD FACSMelody™ cell sorter, designed to make cell-sorting easy and hassle-free. The BD FACSMelody™ now features a 4-way sort, that enables you to spend less time on sequential runs and get more out of your precious samples by allowing 4 samples to be sorted in a single run.

The BD Rhapsody Scanner and Express

The sorted cells can then be transferred into the cartridge of the BD Rhapsody™ system, using which you can analyse the expression of hundreds of genes across tens of thousands of single cells right on your benchtop.  In this process, the lysis, capture of mRNAs using the bead-based retrieval mechanism of the BD Rhapsody™ are carried out, enabling cDNA library preparation. The BD Rhapsody Express™, with the BD Rhapsody™ scanner, and the BD Rhapsody™ targeted panels makes single-cell RNA expression analysis faster, cheaper and more efficient than ever before. And that’s not all. You can run up to 12 samples at a time can be run using the BD Rhapsody™ single-cell multiplexing kit (SMK).

Another level of depth can be added using  BD™ AbSeq antibodies, which are conjugated to oligonucleotides. The BD™ AbSeq can be integrated with the BD Rhapsody™ system to enable an efficient workflow that allows you to study gene and protein expression in a single experiment.

The BD AbSeq workflow integrated into the BD Rhapsody system

Also, the BD Rhapsody™ Whole Transcriptome Analysis (WTA) Amplification Kit makes unraveling the whole transcriptome of a single cell easier. The BD™ WTA Amplification Kit is used to generate whole transcriptome libraries using random primers, followed by amplification and addition of sequencing adapters. It is also compatible with the BD™ AbSeq oligo-conjugated antibodies and with the BD™ Single-Cell Multiplexing Kit. This whole transcriptome assay allows for the identification of the most differentially expressed genes in the cell. Once identified, these genes can be used to create custom panels with up to 500 targets, or added to up to 100 targets in one of BD’s pre-designated panels to create supplemental panels according to experimental needs. Bioinformatics pipeline and visualization tools are also provided. These tools consist of UMI analysis algorithms and visualization tools enabling even inexperienced users to analyze and understand single-cell data.

All in all, the BD Multi-Omics pathway combines cell sorting, mRNA sequencing, protein expression and bioinformatics tools to enable you to study the working of single-cells like never before.

Overview of BD Rhapsody WTA Amplification kit library preparation workflow (with and without SMK)

With BD Multi-Omics…and our end-to-end support…you can boldly go and find the impossible

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