NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – S2 Genomics announced today that it has received a $280,000 Phase 1 Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Institutes of Health's Human Genome Research Institute.
S2 will use the funds to develop its Singulator system for automated preparation of single cells. The Singulator system includes single-use sample cartridges and reagents that allow researchers to quickly isolate cells or nuclei with minimal impact on the cellular transcriptome, the firm added.
The project is a collaboration with Roger Lasken and Richard Scheuermann of the J. Craig Venter Institute, S2 noted. The Singulator will be optimized for use in single-cell genomic DNA sequencing and RNA sequencing from single nuclei, methods that were first developed by the Lasken lab in 2005 and 2013. The prototype Singulator system will be field tested at JCVI and other sites.
"Current methods of cell isolation represent a significant bottleneck for researchers and lead to inconsistencies in the data," S2 Founder and CEO Stevan Jovanovich said in a statement. "The Singulator will standardize experimental workflows and optimize both the quantity and quality of viable cells or nuclei isolated from a variety of tissue types."