All the
single cells!
High-throughput, single-cell multi-omic methods...for microbes! 🫧
🧪 What is this project about?
Single-cell 'omics methods have revolutionized biology...for eukaryotes, that is! Microbial single-cell 'omics methods are in their infancy, and current methods are both extremely low-throughput and prohibitively expensive. In this project, we're developing novel high-throughput (multi-)omic methods, capable of querying up to a million bacterial cells at once!
🧐 Why is it important to research this?
Single-cell 'omics methods have the potential to transform microbiology. Single-cell whole-genome sequencing (scWGS) methods can help microbiologists figure out "who's there" in a microbial community (e.g., a pathogen, which could make someone sick; a beneficial microbe) at unprecedented resolution, and they can help differentiate closely related strains. Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) methods can provide insight into what those microbes are doing--even when microbes appear to have the same/similar DNA!
🤞 What can we hope to get out of this project?
The methods and tools developed through this project will allow microbiologists to query entire microbiomes at maximum possible resolution.