Single Cell Isolation Sorting and Dispensing system

The IGC is a large multidisciplinary cross-college institute situated within the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. IGC includes three world renowned research centres that advance knowledge and deliver basic science concepts to clinical and commercial outcomes within one world leading laboratory complex. The institute, together with its partner Deaneries and the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine provide a fertile and dynamic environment for medical research.

Over the past few years, we have witnessed a revolution in cellular and developmental biology. The advent of robust and sensitive mass spectrometry approaches has enabled us to quantify protein expression from single-cells (sc) Unbiased sc Proteomics has the potential to give us unprecedented insight into how cellular heterogeneity and changes within underpin most biological processes.

We have recently installed a timsTOF SCP coupled to an Evosep HPLC and have obtained funding from the BBSRC to purchase a robotic workstation for isolating, processing and labelling proteins/peptides isolated from single cells. The proposed instrument will enhance the capabilities and throughput of the University of Edinburgh to investigate the proteome at single cell resolution.

• The instrument must be capable of isolating and lysing cells as well as automated protein digestion, peptide labelling with isotope tags and loading onto evotips.
• The system must be able to introduce isotopic labels to permit multiplexing.
• Instrument has to have the proven capability of reproducibly generating 100s of samples that can yield >1500 protein groups identified using a timsTOF SCP or similar mass spectrometer.

The instrument will be unique to both the University of Edinburgh and to the surrounding areas. Our funders have asked that the instrument be available for the wider research community to access. Because of this we anticipate the system will be heavily used to mitigate against research being impacted by instrument downtime. We would require a system engineer to be available for onsite support and access to technical specialist support as required.