Looking at sequencing through HD lenses. There is a lot of talk about sequencing these days. Until recently, it meant extracting bulk information from a sample. Today, however, sequencing can be done at the single cell level – a revolution! But why seek such high definition? Because samples are highly heterogeneous by nature, and because each of the cells they contain behave very slightly differently from their neighbours. At this ‘single-cell’ resolution, scientists can, among other things, detect diseases at early stages or evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment.
SIB Scientists from the BCF Group are using data from single-cell sequencing to monitor how the proportion of immune cells (in orange, pink and red) varies in comparison to tumour cells (in blue) over time, and to assess the impact of novel therapeutic approaches on tumour growth. Image credit: Nadine Zangger, BCF Group, Lausanne.