Rare Cell Isolation
Rare cell populations are those that exist at extremely low abundance within a large population of background cells. Specific types of rare cells, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and fetal cells in maternal samples, provide valuable analytical information and early detection that could ultimately replace invasive diagnostic procedures.
Due to their limited frequency, rare cells can be challenging to isolate. For example, CTC abundance is as low as one in one billion blood cells, and fetal cells can be even more rare. Traditionally, rare cells have been isolated via enrichment methods such as filtering and magnetic bead selection. However, these methods are unable to isolate pure populations of rare cells. To effectively isolate rare cells, high efficiency and sensitivity are essential.
Namocell’s two patented sorting modes: enrichment sorting and single cell sorting can be combined for efficient isolation of extremely rare cells from a mixed population. High-density samples containing the rare target cells are first suspended and loaded into Namocell’s microfluidic cell cartridge. Using the enrichment sorting mode, rare cells of interest are dispensed into a single well or a single tube, producing a pool of cells enriched for the target cell population. Subsequently, the post-enrichment pool is loaded into a new cell cartridge and the target cells are dispensed using the single cell sorting mode as singlets into a 96-well or 384-well plate. The isolated rare cells can then be used in multiple downstream applications, such as genomic analysis or cell culture.
Namocell Benefits
Gentle
Gentle sorting (< 2 psi) preserves cell viability and integrity
Efficient
High recovery of rare cells, no sample loss
Fast
- Process up to 3 million cells/min
- Work with sample density of up to 150 million cells/mL
Easy
- Sterile sorting, no contamination
- Easy setup in under 3 min
- Simple operation, zero maintenance
Dispensing Efficiency
Namocell Single Cell Dispensers are highly efficient and consistent at dispensing single cells. With dispensing efficiency (percentage of dispensed wells with single cells) of 80-90% for CHO cells compared to ~30% using manual pipetting.
Isolating Rare Cells
The HanaTM Single Cell Dispenser was used to isolate EpCAM+ cancer cells spiked into a background of white blood cells at a frequency of 1 in 10,000. Following single cell isolation, analysis of CNV (copy number variation) across the genome confirmed cancer-characteristic CNV profile from the isolated EpCAM+ cells (top panel), as compared with the background cells (bottom panel). As an internal control, the spiked-in cancer cells were female (XX) whereas the background cells were male (XY), as evidenced by the copy number of X and Y chromosomes in the respective CNV data.
What Scientists are Saying
Here at Cytovance, we love our Namocell. This machine has increased our plating capacity and efficiency nearly four-fold. The accuracy of Namocell’s 384-well plating coupled with the easy changes between samples has been a game changer for our workflow.
Mike Brem
Namocell Hana single cell dispenser provides a great solution for gentle single cell cloning using sterile disposable cartridges. The system is easy to use and quick to initialize. Hana combines the advantages of FACS and microfluidic cell dispensing to enable high assurance of monoclonality with high throughput and great cell viability.
Mandy Yim
We’ve been using the Namo to do single cell sorting for genomics/ transcriptomics applications as well as for colony selection for tissue culture. We’re overall very satisfied with our results and find the setup to be very easy, as well as standard maintenance. After sterility protocols (which can take an hour), being able to immediately jump to sorting in less than ten minutes has saved us time and precious samples.
Noelani Kamelamela
The Hana has had a positive impact on our workflow. We are now able, with a high degree of confidence, to generate clonal populations of cells with reduced cytotoxicity (compared to FACS) while simultaneously saving hands-on time due to not needing to immediately screen for single cells after manual limited dilutions. In many cell lines, we see a significantly higher efficiency of clonality from plate to plate compared to our previous methods.
Pawel Bialk
The instrument works very well for our purposes of single-cell dispensing, primarily gene-edited lines. Easy to use; the setup and dispensing time is very short. It has the benefits of a FACS machine (binning by forward/side scatter), with lower pressure to help increase cell survival.
Michael Parsons
Namocell’s disposable cartridges have allowed us to increase the throughput of the validation of our CRISPR engineered cell lines since we can sort a full plate in less than 3 minutes, and can move to the next plate without the hassle of cleaning. This outstanding product is paired with Namocell’s exceptional customer service that has been responsive and attentive to our needs. While evaluating different FACS machines, we simply did not find a rival that combined Namocell’s simplicity, performance and value, all while occupying a small footprint.
Trang Dickson
Our stem cell core facility was looking for ways to speed up our human induced pluripotent cell cloning to generate clonal cell lines and to analyze our gene editing efficiencies in single cells. Our criteria for an instrument for single cell dispensing was 1) sterility, 2) gentle on cells, 3) ease of use, and 4) reasonable cost. The Namocell fitted our criteria perfectly. We are able to reduce the time and effort for generating clonal CRISPR-engineered iPSC lines significantly. The instrument requires very little maintenance and users do not need to be highly trained with the main requirement being good aseptic technique. We are excited to use the Namocell potentially for other single cell applications.
Po-Lin So
