NIH's Single Cell Analysis Program funds the development of tools and methods scientists need to study individual cells in cancer and other biologic contexts.

Until recently, scientists were limited in their ability to study individual cells, including those that might drive tumor growth. Now converging advances in high-throughput sequencing, proteomics, molecular imaging, and other technologies make it increasingly possible to investigate single cells in their native microenvironments.

In October, the NIH announced a plan to invest $90 million in the Single Cell Analysis Program (SCAP), funding short- and long-term research aimed at developing the tools and methods scientists need to study individual cells in cancer and other biologic contexts.

“The goal is to help scientists answer questions about how single cells behave and interact with a lot more precision than they have now,” says Jennifer Couch, PhD, chief of the Structural Biology and Molecular Applications Branch in the Division of Cancer Biology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Promising technologies supported by the program, Couch says, include new types of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction that reveal the influence of morphology on gene expression in individual cells within intact tissues; new sensors that detect intra- and extracellular variations in acidity, which can affect tumor growth; a technology that tracks the immune response of single cells in live animals; an automated high-throughput assay for predicting the metastatic and drug response potential of pancreatic cancer cells; and a high-throughput assay for looking at the genetic heterogeneity of single cancer cells in tissue.

According to Couch, these SCAP efforts generate entirely new views of cell heterogeneity. “They mark a significant advance from studies of isolated cells or measurements in bulk tissues,” she says. “Cells express genes differently when they're in their native environment than they do when they're in cultures. With these approaches, we'll be able to build more accurate signaling networks and get to a better understanding of how cells communicate with each other.”

While the SCAP applies to a range of disciplines, Couch and her NCI colleague Randy Knowlton, PhD, a program director also in the Division of Cancer Biology, note that the emerging technologies are often applied first to studies of cancer, many with clear clinical promise.

Individual 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells express a marker for the transcription factor NF-κB, which has translocated to the nucleus in the cells after stimulation by the signaling molecule TNF-α. This work by the Stanford University lab of Markus Covert, PhD, will be extended by one of the recent NIH grants to develop single-cell analysis techniques.
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Individual 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells express a marker for the transcription factor NF-κB, which has translocated to the nucleus in the cells after stimulation by the signaling molecule TNF-α. This work by the Stanford University lab of Markus Covert, PhD, will be extended by one of the recent NIH grants to develop single-cell analysis techniques.

Individual 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells express a marker for the transcription factor NF-κB, which has translocated to the nucleus in the cells after stimulation by the signaling molecule TNF-α. This work by the Stanford University lab of Markus Covert, PhD, will be extended by one of the recent NIH grants to develop single-cell analysis techniques.
View largeDownload slide

Individual 3T3 mouse fibroblast cells express a marker for the transcription factor NF-κB, which has translocated to the nucleus in the cells after stimulation by the signaling molecule TNF-α. This work by the Stanford University lab of Markus Covert, PhD, will be extended by one of the recent NIH grants to develop single-cell analysis techniques.

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©2012 American Association for Cancer Research.
2012