Supplementary Material From Singer Lab Publications:

EINSTEIN RESEARCHERS DEVISE CELLULAR GENOMICS
TECHNOLOGY TO VIEW GENE EXPRESSION IN INDIVIDUAL CELLS

Using newly devised microscopy technology, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have demonstrated the ability to view the expression of many genes simultaneously inside single cells. The researchers, led by Dr. Robert H. Singer, co-chair of Anatomy and Structural Biology at Einstein, report their findings in the August 2nd issue of Science.

"With previous methods of analyzing expression, samples, like clinical biopsies, are ground up and you cant tell which cells the gene signatures come from," said Dr. Singer. "With our new cellular genomic technology, tissue structure is preserved and you are able to see each cell and its gene expression simultaneously. As such, we could relate patterns of gene activity to particular cells."

Singer and his Einstein colleagues note that the new method may offer promising applications as a medical diagnostic tool. Using intensely-labeled probes that can be visualized by microscope and novel computerized image analysis, the researchers were able to view single-cell gene expression profiles rapidly and with high-throughput, two key factors for potential future use in medicine.

"If you can look at one cell at a time with many marker genes, you can identify nuances more accurately," explains Jeff Levsky, lead author on the paper. "With a disease like cancer, which may involve only a tiny focus, being able to view cells in this manner may help in pinpointing where and how a cell has gone awry."

He adds, "The key aspect of our technology is removing all steps of averaging. Whereas with previous techniques, the ambient temperature of expression for the whole tissue is viewed, we can see the gene thermostat in each cell. By taking gene activity monitoring to the single-cell level, we see cell behavior in a way that couldnt be seen before."