Fluidigm C1
The Fluidigm C1 is a microfluidic platform for single-cell RNA-Seq and DNA-Seq (whole genome) library preparation. Cellular suspensions are added to the integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) which then shuttle individual cells into microfluidic chambers which are flooded with reagents in order to carry out library construction in very small volumes. The system is targeted at cell sizes that mostly fit the requirements of mammalian studies. The IFC size ranges for cells are 5-10 microns, 10-17 microns or 17-25 microns.
The applications.
Automated single-cell capture and library preparation. We also have the OpenApp developer’s kit which allows you to use and develop custom assays on the system. So if you have a protocol that you would like to run at a single cell level that is not available ‘off-the shelf’ from Fluidigm, please talk to us about porting it to the C1 system.
The throughput.
The standard IFC has the capacity to capture and prepare libraries from up to 96 single cells. The HT (high-throughput) IFC provides mRNA quantification for up to 800 cells.
What we use it for.
We have a number of research areas that require single-cell transcriptomics data from evolutionary studies of cichlid speciation and adaptation and analysis of immune responses to looking at the differences in early developmental programmes from distantly related organisms. The C1 is also seen as a potential platform for single cell ATAC-Seq.