Singapore has officially opened Single-Cell Omics Centre (SCOC) to speed up the understanding of how individual cells work, and how diagnosis and treatment might be improved through insight derived from single cells.
The SCOC is a collaboration between the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), an institute under the umbrella of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and US-based biochip company Fluidigm.
The 25 mt2 research centre is expected to develop a method where the cells of solid tumours can be easily converted into cells floating in a liquid solution.
Fluidigm president and CEO Gajus Worthington said that the Single-cell genomics provides researchers with an opportunity for extraordinary scientific discovery.
Located at GIS facilities in Biopolis, the SCOC features the Fluidigm C1 Single-Cell Auto Prep System, which automatically isolates individual cells from small tissue quantities or larger cell populations and houses two Fluidigm BioMark HD Systems that perform single-cell gene expression analytics and validation.
GIS principal investigator Paul Robson said the Single-Cell Omics Centre aims to facilitate community access to the microfluidic technologies and thus enable unparalleled insight into underlying biological mechanisms operative in health and disease.
