Abstract

"PASCA's" Single Cell Manipulation Technology - A Powerful New Tool in Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Victoria McEneaney, Post Doctoral Researcher, Trinity College Dublin

The European research project “Platform for Advanced Single Cell Analysis” (PASCA) has developed a fully automated instrument known as a Single Cell Manipulator (SCM). The “drop-on-demand” robotic system, coupled to a microdispenser chip is capable of printing a picoliter sized droplet containing a single cell into spatially ordered arrays or for direct deposition onto a substrate. Current applications include (but are not exclusive to) cervical cytopathology, thyroid cancer pathobiology and cancer stem cells. In cervical cytopathology, clinical samples are printed into spatially ordered arrays and the technology is being developed to allow printing of clinical arrays along a gradient of abnormality based on electrical impedance spectroscopy. In thyroid carcinoma, single BRAFV600E wild type thyrocytes and single BRAFV600E mutant anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cell lines have been printed and cultured and size metric experiments from mixed populations have been performed with a 100% confirmed cell selection success rate. In the cancer stem cell and thyroid pathobiology applications, SCM technology is further being developed to fluorescently sort mixed populations of cells. PASCAs ongoing development of this technology will greatly assist in analysis of individual cells within many tumours and disease types, thus leading to a greater understanding of the complexity within clinical diagnostics and therapeutics.