11 September 2018 Launch Single Cell Discoveries bv Back to news New startup offers complete single-cell sequencing service Single Cell Discoveries is a Hubrecht Institute spin-off that helps scientists perform single-cell sequencing experiments. The startup is founded by Judith Vivié and Mauro Muraro, two researchers from the Hubrecht Institute and is launched on Tuesday September 11th. Their goal is to aid doctors and researchers perform single-cell sequencing, a technique that shines new light on complex biological questions. Oncode Institute The spin-off Single Cell Discoveries is the result of fundamental research executed at Hubrecht Institute and is driven by pure scientific interest. Thanks to funding and advice of Oncode Institute the two founders were able to set up their own company. The ultimate goal for Oncode Institute: crack the code of cancer. To reach this goal, Oncode invests in promising startups like Single Cell Discoveries. Background Single-cell sequencing allows scientists to detect rare cell types like stem cells, and research how these cells can contribute to the function or disease of an organ. In the case of cancer, for example, a rare sub-type of cells can survive conventional therapy and survive treatment. Because cells from different kinds of cancer and different people can differ quite a bit, it is important to get a detailed understanding of all cell types in a tumor. With single-cell sequencing we can analyze individual cells from a tumor. The hope is this will aid offer patient-specific therapy in the future that will help fight diseases like cancer. Single-cell sequencing or transcriptomics was first described in 2009 and has since been applied to a variety of different research questions over the whole world. Setting up experiments and understanding the resulting data, however, is not a trivial task. Single Cell Discoveries offers doctors and researchers the opportunity to outsource the technique in a simple way. Since the start of operations in June 2009, Single Cell Discoveries already serviced 43 customers in 13 institutes from 5 different countries. The ultimate goal is to use this technique as a tool for personalized medicine that will help fight diseases like cancer. For more information take a look at this film:
