Barcoding strategies for sequencing thousands of single cells at low cost

Sequencing nucleic acids from single cells is revealing the true extent of heterogeneity within and between cells, and enables detection of previously unknown cell types. To analyse the true extent of variation, large number of cells need to be analysed,  far beyond the number easily processed in 96 or 384 well PCR plates. New approaches for single cell sequencing use thousands of small beads coated with barcoded DNA oligos, each of which will meet the nucleic acids of a single cell. After the nucleic acids from the cells are barcoded the material from all cells can be pooled, enabling many thousands of single cells to be sequenced at high-throughput and low cost. In this talk I will discuss current and upcoming strategies for synthesising and using these barcoded beads.