🧪 Researchers at the University of Surrey developed a microfluidics-based technique that accurately characterizes lipids in living cells.
📈 This method is faster and preserves spatial information, detecting about 200 lipid features quickly.
🔍 Results show it rivals traditional sampling, marking significant progress in lipidomics technology for bioprocessing operations.
Introduction:
This article discusses a novel high-throughput microfluidics-based methodology developed by researchers at the University of Surrey, aimed at improving single-cell lipid characterization for bioprocess operations. It emphasizes the critical importance of accurately profiling lipids due to their significant roles in cellular metabolism, signaling pathways, and membrane integrity, as well as addressing existing gaps in lipid characterization techniques.
- Variability in lipid composition plays a vital role in cellular functions, necessitating precise lipid profiling at the single-cell level for biomanufacturing.
- The newly developed method combines microfluidics with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to identify approximately 200 lipid features in living single cells quickly.
- Validation of this technique showed that lipid profiles obtained from microfluidics are comparable to traditional capillary sampling methods, validating its reliability.
- Challenges addressed by this approach include lipid contamination from blanks and optimizing sampling procedures to enhance lipid extraction and separation.
- Future studies aim to extend the use of this microfluidics workflow to various cell types and further optimize detection processes to minimize analysis noise.
Conclusion:
This advancement in single-cell lipid characterization has significant implications for biomanufacturing processes, offering a faster and cost-effective alternative to traditional methods. By addressing contamination and optimizing sampling techniques, the proposed methodology enhances data reliability and may pave the way for more detailed insights into cellular lipidomics, potentially improving bioprocess outcomes in various applications.
