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Fig. 3 | Clinical and Translational Medicine

Fig. 3

From: Using single-cell multiple omics approaches to resolve tumor heterogeneity

Fig. 3

Single-cell isolation and preparation. a One method for isolating single-cells is by droplet microfluidics. In the first channel, individual cells are coupled with uniquely bar-coded beads that continue down the pipe until they are captured by an oil droplet. The oil droplets are then pooled in high quantities, and PCR is performed on the population. b A second approach for isolating single-cells is to pre-enrich cells by FACS then pass them through an IFC chip, which collects them into individual wells. IFC chips are available in different cell size ranges which assists in limiting the capture more than 1 cell/well. Unlike the droplet approach, PCR is performed on individual cells. This method results in lower overall cell counts than the droplet approach, however, there is a reported trade-off in sensitivity. Overall, droplet-based methods will yield higher numbers of cells per experiment, but the quality of data is more sparse, whereas, microfluidic chip methods provide a deeper cellular profile but with fewer cells. Researchers have to weigh the trade-off of single cell read depth or single-cell population breadth

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