Ingenuity Systems Enhances Workflow For Experimental Transcriptome Analysis In Single Cells

Ingenuity Systems has developed a new gene expression workflow with Life Technologies. The workflow leverages Ingenuity’s IPA software, the Applied Biosystems SOLiD System, TaqMan Gene Expression Assays and Arrays to open up new avenues for researchers to analyse and understand the transcriptome of individual cells, which is important for stem cell and disease research.

Scientists from Life Technologies and Ingenuity worked together to develop a joint workflow based on data published in a Nature Methods paper where whole transcriptome analysis using the SOLiD System was performed comparing wildtype single cells to those that had select genes ‘knocked out’. Results were validated using TaqMan Assays for quantitative real-time PCR reactions. The team then used IPA to understand the functional impacts of this global gene expression disruption and to narrow in on key pathways and cellular processes. With this information, IPA helped the scientists create testable hypotheses for follow-up experiments using TaqMan Assays to validate transcript changes.

Peter DiLaura, senior vice president of marketing and products at Ingenuity Systems, said: One of our main objectives with IPA is to ensure that insights gained from gene expression profiles are used to help determine optimal follow-up experiments. This joint workflow using the Applied Biosystems solutions and IPA helped researchers move from experiment to experiment by rapidly identifying relevant biological insights – such key mechanisms, functions, and pathways – and then providing a way to leverage those insights to design validation studies that help researchers better understand normal cellular and disease processes.