Fluidigm Microfluidic Technology: Contributions to Life Science Industry – the Biomark™ HD and C1™systems.
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Technology
https://www.fluidigm.com/about/technology
Products
https://www.fluidigm.com/products
Applications
A look at the latest agricultural biology DNA sampling applications and approaches
Fluidigm supports six significant single-cell biology methods to help accomplish more
Discover solutions to persistent issues with sample collection and biorepository work
https://www.fluidigm.com/applications
Fluidigm creates and manufactures innovative technologies and life-science tools designed to revolutionize biology through a relentless pursuit of scientific truth. Its core technologies are based on microfluidics and mass cytometry, and enable the exploration and analysis of individual cells, as well as the industrial application of genomics.
Most microfluidics experts in the 1990s worked with rigid substances like silicon, glass or plastic, but a young Stephen Quake, PhD, endeavored to create complex microplumbing from a novel rubber substrate. He and co-inventor Marc Unger built a microscopic valve to control the flow of fluids within microchannels—and a new approach to integrating biological liquid handling was born.
Meanwhile, Gajus Worthington, a college classmate of Quake’s, was acquiring the skills and experience necessary to build a successful company. Mentored in his early 20s by thought leaders such as Jim Collins, he set upon his personal mission to create an organization that would make lasting contributions to science and technology. In 1999 Worthington and Quake united the possibilities of Quake’s breakthrough with the desire to enable ever greater biological discoveries and co-founded Fluidigm. Today the company’s integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) offer rapid, efficient, highly parallel and reproducible analysis of up to hundreds of genetic markers across thousands of DNA samples in just hours, rather than days or weeks, all the way down to the level of the individual cell.
The Fluidigm microfluidic technology supports genomics-based applications such as single-cell gene expression, high-throughput SNP genotyping, protein expression analysis, digital PCR, mutant detection and more. Additionally, two of the company’s instruments have proven to be workhorses within the life science industry: the Biomark™ HD and C1™systems.
Originally introduced in 2006 and updated in 2011, Biomark HD stands alone in the world of analytical instrumentation as a multiapplication platform without compromise, providing high quality results for every experimental approach. Since its debut in 2012, the C1 system has been revolutionizing single-cell research by enabling researchers to rapidly and reliably isolate, process and profile individual cells for genomic analysis.
C1 researchers study cell differentiation, measure individual cell responses to specific stimuli, verify critical disease biomarkers, validate RNAi knockdown and conduct candidate drug screens. Select BioSciences, an independent research company, said in its January 2011 report on Single Cell Analysis (SCA) that “Fluidigm is the leading microfluidics company for SCA…[and] Fluidigm is well-positioned to become a leader in SCA.”
By 2013 the company’s position in the single-cell movement was clear: Independent research firm DeciBio in its August report entitled Single Cell Genomics (SCG): Market Size, Segmentation, Growth, Competition and Trends identified Fluidigm as the “undisputed leader in single-cell genomics.”
In 2014 Fluidigm expanded into single-cell proteomics with its acquisition of technology leader DVS Sciences, the inventor of CyTOF®, a multi-parameter single-cell protein analysis system. The CyTOF 2 mass cytometer analyzes antibody and metal complexes using an innovative method of atomic mass spectrometry, and solidifies Fluidigm’s position at the leading edge of single-cell biology.
Today more than 400 people work for Fluidigm worldwide. The company works with more than 1,000 valued customers pioneering the field of single-cell biology or using applied genomics in industrial applications to improve and protect our food supplies, track samples in the world’s largest biobanks and in general provide faster, more accurate, lower cost workflows to help improve people’s lives.
Fluidigm is headquartered in South San Francisco, California, with sales and sales support operations from Beijing to Tokyo to Paris to San Francisco. Fluidigm conducts its Research and Development activities and manufactures its instruments, integrated fluidic circuits and reagents in its factories in South San Francisco, Singapore and Markham, Ontario.
1999
Founding of Fluidigm Corporation (originally Mycometrix) to commercialize IFC technology developed in the Caltech laboratory of biophysicist Stephen Quake, PhD.
2003
Launch of the TOPAZ® System for Protein Crystallization, including integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) that assemble 768 crystallization conditions in parallel and instrumentation and software that automate the digital imaging and analysis of experiments.
2004
Development of intellectual property around a new class of IFCs referred to as Dynamic Array™ IFCs and of prototypes yielding as many as 9,216 parallel data points.
DVS Sciences, founded by Dmitry Bandura, Vladimir Baranov, Scott Tanner, and Olga Ornatsky, was spun out of MDS Sciex.
2005
Opening of a 15,000 square-foot IFC fabrication facility in Singapore
2006
Launch of the Biomark™ system for Genetic Analysis, a multi-application hardware/software platform based on Fluidigm Dynamic Array IFCs. Introduction of the Biomark™ system heralded a practical solution for ultra-sensitive detection by PCR.
Launch of the 12.765 Digital Array™ IFC to provide absolute counting of target molecules, often within samples as small as a single cell. The Digital Array™ IFC is the method of choice to achieve such quantification known as digital PCR, which had been too impractical for routine use until this product was available.
2007
Launch of high-throughput SNP genotyping on the Biomark system, enabling breakthroughs for the study of genetic variation within large populations.
Launch of the Fluidigm 48.48 Dynamic Array IFC that, for the first time in microfluidics, provided a matrixed chip architecture which enabled both a high density of experiments (2,304 per chip) and effective mixing of nano-volume scale fluids.
2008
Launch of the Fluidigm 96.96 Dynamic Array IFC which is capable of performing 9,216 simultaneous real-time PCR experiments in nanoliter quantities. This new generation IFC enabled life science researchers to achieve new levels of cost and logistical efficiency and flexibility, as well as comprehensive profiling from miniscule amounts of sample down to the scale of individual cells.
Launch of the Fluidigm EP1™ System for genetic analysis. This is Fluidigm’s most efficient system for high sample throughput SNP genotyping and end point digital PCR. It allows extremely low running costs and provides the easiest workflow for low to mid multiplex SNP genotyping.
Launch of the DVS Sciences CyTOF Single-cell Protein Analysis System technology which identifies proteins in individual cells by seeding them with antibodies that have metal labels. It uses an atomic mass spectrometer to measure the metal labels informing the researcher about the protein composition of the cell.
2009
Launch of the Fluidigm 48.770 Digital Array IFC, the highest density commercially available integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) to date. This IFC can test up to 48 individual samples at a time and automatically partition each of the samples into separate sets of 770 reaction chambers—delivering a total of 36,960 simultaneous digital PCR reactions.
Launch of the Fluidigm Access Array™ System specifically designed to support high-throughput re-sequencing, targeted enrichment, sample barcoding, and library preparation for sequencing using amplicon tagging.
2010
MIT’s Technology Review magazine selects Fluidigm Corporation as one of the top 50 most innovative companies in the world.
Launch of the reusable FR48.48 Dynamic Array IFC—the world’s first reusable bio-chip for the SNP genotyping market.
DVS Sciences Toronto manufacturing facility established.
2011
Launch of the Biomark™ HD Real-time PCR System, the company’s most advanced instrument for genomic analysis. The Biomark HD System provides the sensitivity and throughput needed to study gene expression down to the single-cell level—especially those who have limited amounts of sample or study rare populations of cells.
Fluidigm complete its initial public offering. Shares trade on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “FLDM.”
Fluidigm Singapore factory achieves a manufacturing milestone, building and shipping more than 1 billion microscopic NanoFlex™ valves since its inception. Each NanoFlex valve is so small that it takes 10 of them to span the width of a human hair.
Launch of Fluidigm assays and primers optimized for the company’s integrated fluidic circuit technology. The products are marketed as Delta Gene™ Assays (gene expression), SNP Type™ Assays (SNP genotyping), and Access Array™ Target-specific Primers (target enrichment for next-generation sequencing).
Launch of the 192.24 Dynamic Array™ IFC, designed to genotype 192 samples against 24 SNP assays in a single run, providing 4,608 data points in just one hour.
2012
Launch of the C1™ Single-Cell Auto Prep System which revolutionizes single-cell research. The C1 enables researchers to rapidly and reliably isolate, process, and profile individual cells for genomic analysis. For the first time, single-cell researchers could extract, reverse transcribe, amplify, and ultimately detect and analyze cell activity using just one technology, reducing the variability caused by multi-platform technical errors.
Fluidigm China office opens.
The Broad Institute and Fluidigm launch the world’s first research center dedicated to accelerating the development of research methods and discoveries in mammalian single-cell genomics. The Single-Cell Genomics Initiative is a hub for collaboration among single-cell genomics researchers in many pioneering fields, including stem cells and cancer biology.
2013
Fluidigm and the Genome Institute of Singapore open the Singapore Single-Cell Research Centre opening the door for Asian biological discoveries. It is the first single-cell centre of excellence in Asia.
Launch of the DVS Sciences CyTOF 2 Single-Cell Protein Analysis System a multi-parameter single-cell protein analysis system which analyzes antibody/metal complexes using atomic mass spectrometry. The technology enables high-parameter single-cell protein analysis for applications in biological research.
2014
Fluidigm Completes Acquisition of DVS Sciences—Creating a Single-Cell Technology Powerhouse.
SOURCE
https://www.fluidigm.com/about/aboutfluidigm
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