Scalable Engineered Membranes for the Production of Low-cost Filter Devices for Single Cell Genomics

Single cell genomics has emerged as a potent tool for studying makeupdifferentiation states and lineages of heterogeneous populations of cellsHoweverthe widespread use of this technology is still limited by assay costs and access to specialized equipmentWe propose to leverage a scalable solution for manufacturing free standing photoresist membranes to generate filter devices capable of performing single cell genomic assaysThis novel form factor will significantly decrease costs while simplifying cell loading procedures and improving cell loading efficienciesFurthermorethese devices will not require extraneous specialized equipment and will therefore be able to be used in any labThis technology will further accelerate the uptake of single cell genomic tools Project Narrative The proposed work will demonstrate devices capable of delivering single cell genomics assays at a fraction of current costsThe cost reduction will accelerate the use of these technologies in a wide range of fields including immunologyneurobiologycancer and stem cell biology where they are leading to breakthrough understandings in the causes of disease and the predictive efficacy of cancer therapiesIn the futuresingle cell genomics will be extensively used to guide clinical careby informing whether treatment is necessarymonitoring treatment and active diseaseand detecting residual disease