Single Cell Analysis Project
The Single Cell Proteomics and Lipidomics Project is a £5 million multidisciplinary initiative funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to create an advanced suite of technologies for the study of single cells using proteomic approaches.
Recent News & Events
New Publication - February 2011
A first step towards practical single cell proteomics: a microfluidic antibody capture chip with TIRF detection
Ali Salehi-Reyhani, Joseph Kaplinsky, Edward Burgin, Miroslava Novakova, Andrew J. deMello, Richard H. Templer, Peter Parker, Mark A. A. Neil, Oscar Ces, Paul French, Keith R. Willison and David Klug. Lab Chip, 2011, Advance Article [DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00613K].
We have developed a generic platform to undertake the analysis of protein copy number from single cells. The approach described here is ‘all-optical’ whereby single cells are manipulated into separate analysis chambers using an optical trap; single cells are lysed by a shock wave caused by laser-induced microcavitation, and the protein released from a single cell is measured by total internal reflection microscopy as it is bound to micro-printed antibody spots within the device. The platform was tested using GFP transfected cells and the relative precision of the measurement method was determined to be 88%. Single cell measurements were also made on a breast cancer cell line to measure the relative levels of unlabelled human tumour suppressor protein p53 using a chip incorporating an antibody sandwich assay format. These results suggest that this is a viable method for measuring relative protein levels in single cells.
Publication - August 2010
Generation of Simplified Protein Raman Spectra Using Three-Color Picosecond Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy.
Donaldson PM, Willison KR, Klug DR. J. Phys. Chem. B 2010, 114, 12175-12181.
The well-known and prominent marker bands of aromatic amino acids in Raman spectra of protein and peptide films are revisited in the frequency and time domains using three-color picosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS). We show here that control of the probe delay allows the narrow width/long lifetime states to be observed free not only from nonresonant background and fluorescence contamination but also free from the spectral congestion that arises from the complex background of spectrally broader (shorter lifetime) vibrational modes. The reasonable limits of detection obtained indicate that such CARS methods may be useful for quantitative analysis of protein composition.
Two SCP students in winning group for first prize at Dragons' Den Style competition - June 2010
Two SCP students, Joe Kaplinsky and Ali Salehi-Reyhani, along with another Institute of Chemical Biology student, Duncan Casey, won the first prize in a Dragons' Den style competition showcasing student entrepreneurship. Four teams of PhD students competed for £20,000 business development money in a Dragons' Den style competition this week, digitally compered by Evan Davis, host of the BBC programme Dragons' Den. For more information please click here
