Technologies
Other equipment
Single-cell systems
Single-cell analysis addresses biological questions that have previously been impossible to answer. The platform is equipped with two systems.
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Chromium Controller
The high throughput Chromium Controller system from 10x Genomics allows profiling of tens of thousands of single cells at a time thanks to the Gel Bead-in-Emulsion (GEM) technology (gel bead partitions or vesicles in which barcoded cDNA is prepared). The preparation of NGS libraries is then carried out in bulk reaction (see further details in 10x Genomics website).
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C1 Single-Cell Auto Prep System
The C1 Single-Cell Auto Prep System from Standard BioTools is based on microfluidic technology. It is a mid-throughput approach allowing the capture of 800 single cells in individual chambers where cDNA amplification is carried out (see further details in Standard BioTools website). cDNA of 40 cells are then pooled before NGS library preparation.
2100 Bioanalyzer and 2200 TapeStation
We routinely use the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer and 2200 TapeStation for quality control of total, messager or small RNA and of DNA samples before any application. Using electrophoresis technologies (in capillaries for the 2100 instrument), these instruments rapidly inform about RNA integrity and DNA size fragments in a quantitative way, using much less material compared to traditional electrophoresis gel.
QuBit Flex fluorimeter
In order to quantify very low quantities of material (e.g. FACS-sorted cells, ChIP material, ...), the Genomics Platform is equipped with the QuBit Flex fluorimeter from Invitrogen. This instrument is able to quantify with high precision and sensitivity nucleic acids in solutions without prior purification of the samples, using fluorescent specific dyes for RNA or DNA.
Covaris
The Covaris technology is based on the Adaptive Focused Acoustic (AFA) process established as the DNA shearing method, the first step in the preparation of NGS DNA sequencing libraries. It ensures the integrity of nucleic acid samples providing high recovery of double-stranded DNA. This technology allows to precisely and accurately fragment DNA and RNA from 100 bp to 5 kb.
Pipetting robots
- Three Freedom EVO from Tecan.