Project Leaders:       
Carl Hansen, Marco Marra

Lead Institutions:   
University of British Columbia, Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre,
BC Cancer Agency Research Centre

Technology Applications:   
Microfluidics, next generation sequencing, technology development

Research Funding Program:
New Technology Development

Cells are the building blocks of life. Within all creatures and plants, collectively called “organisms”, there are large numbers of cells that work together to allow the organism to develop and function. In humans, it is thought that there may be as many as 100 trillion (100,000,000,000,000) cells. This implies that cells must be small. In fact, about 60,000 human cells can fit on the head of a pin. To perform the complex functions of the organism, some cells must take on specialized roles. In mammals, for example, liver cells perform different roles than brain cells, and heart cells perform different roles than skin cells. But, even within tissues, there are specialized cells. For example, in human blood, there are red cells, T cells, B cells, plasma cells, and so on. All of these cells have important roles in normal development and health. The overall control of how cells become specialized as organisms develop is not well understood, but this control must in general function reliably to avoid disease and ensure the ability to reproduce.

This project, involving leading experts in genomics and engineering, will develop a new approach, allowing scientists to apply the tools of genomics to many single cells at once. By studying single cells, the confusion that accompanies the study of complex mixtures of cells will be avoided, and the RNA that is present within each cell will be more accurately measured. This will lead in turn to a dramatically improved ability to identify mis-expressed genes in diseased tissues. This will eventually produce high quality gene targets for the design of new drugs. This approach has the potential to revolutionize many areas of research in addition to health care, including examination of genomic differences in “normal” non-diseased tissues, and in studying the genomes of un-culturable microbes inhabiting interesting ecological and environmental niches.

Related Links:
Funding Awarded > Tech Dev