Biology subjects

Abate, A. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Abate, A. R..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

Particle-templated emulsification for microfluidics-free digital biology

The compartmentalization of reactions in monodispersed droplets is valuable for applications across biology. However, the requirement of microfluidics to partition the sample into monodispersed droplets is a significant barrier that impedes implementation. Here, we introduce particle-templated emulsification, a method to encapsulate samples in monodispersed emulsions without microfluidics. By vortexing a mixture of hydrogel particles and sample solution, we encapsulate the sample in monodispersed emulsions that are useful for most droplet applications. We illustrate the method with ddPCR and single cell culture. The ability to encapsulate samples in monodispersed droplets without microfluidics should facilitate the implementation of compartmentalized reactions in biology.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2018

Robotic automation of droplet microfluidics

Droplet microfluidics enables new reactions, assays, and analytic capabilities, but often requires complex workflows involving numerous steps of macro- and micro-fluidic processing. We demonstrate robotically-automated droplet microfluidics, an approach to automate workflows with commercial fluid-handling robots. These workflows can be performed without human intervention, increasing reliability and convenience.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2017

Combined aptamer and transcriptome sequencing of single cells

The transcriptome and proteome encode distinct information that is important for characterizing heterogeneous biological systems. We demonstrate a method to simultaneously characterize the transcriptomes and proteomes of single cells at high throughput using aptamer probes and droplet-based single cell sequencing. With our method, we differentiate distinct cell types based on aptamer surface binding and gene expression patterns. Aptamers provide advantages over antibodies for single cell protein characterization, including rapid, in vitro, and high-purity generation via SELEX, and the ability to amplify and detect them with PCR and sequencing.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Printed Droplet Microfluidics for on demand dispensing of picoliter droplets and cells

Although the elementary unit of biology is the cell, high throughput methods for the microscale manipulation of cells and reagents are limited. The existing options are either slow, lack single cell specificity, or utilize fluid volumes out of scale with those of cells. Here, we present Printed Droplet Microfluidics, a technology to dispense picoliter droplets and cells with deterministic control. The core technology is a fluorescence-activated droplet sorter coupled to a specialized substrate that together act as a picoliter droplet and single cell printer, enabling high throughput generation of intricate arrays of droplets, cells, and microparticles. Printed Droplet Microfluidics provides a programmable and robust technology to construct arrays of defined cell and reagent combinations and to integrate multiple measurement modalities together in a single assay.

bioengineering↗