The Microfluidics Systems Biology lab was established to address challenging questions related to cancer and developmental biology, microbial pathogenesis, and other areas of cell and molecular biology using cutting-edge microfluidic devices developed and prototyped in the lab of Prof. Stephen Quake at Stanford University. The lab is focused on several applications, which include:

1) genotyping single cells isolated from genetically heterogeneous populations such as tumors and microbial consortia
2) characterizing transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of gene expression by automated chromatin immunoprecipitation
3) mapping regulatory networks and macromolecular assemblies using high-throughput measurements of protein-protein and protein-DNA binding affinities

Our lab collaborates closely with investigators from other A*STAR research institutes, universities, and industry. To promote interactions with both engineers and biologists, the lab is affiliated with the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and located at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB).

Research in the MSB lab is directed by Prof. Stephen Quake under an A*STAR Visting Investigatorship Programme grant, and by the lab's co-principal investigators, Dr. William F. Burkholder (IMRE) and Prof. Yin Thai Chan (IMRE and NUS).

All enquiries may be directed to Dr. William Burkholder  and Dr. Chan Yin Thai  

FURTHER READING

The following research articles from the Quake lab describe some of the applications of microfluidics to biomedical research that our lab is optimizing and making available to other investigators through research collaborations:

Automated chromatin immunoprecipitation

Wu, A.R., Hiatt, J.B., Lu, R., Attema, J.L., Lobo, N.A., Weissman, I.L., Clarke, M.F., and Quake, S.R. (2009). Automated microfluidic chromatin immunoprecipitation from 2,000 cells. Lab Chip 9, 1365-1370.
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Single-cell genotyping

Fan, H.C., Wang, J., Potanina, A., and Quake, S.R. (2011). Whole-genome molecular haplotyping of single cells. Nat Biotechnol 29, 51-57.
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Blainey, P.C., Mosier, A.C., Potanina, A., Francis, C.A., and Quake, S.R. (2011). Genome of a low-salinity ammonia-oxidizing archaeon determined by single-cell and metagenomic analysis. PLoS One 6, e16626.
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Marcy, Y., Ouverney, C., Bik, E.M., Losekann, T., Ivanova, N., Martin, H.G., Szeto, E., Platt, D., Hugenholtz, P., Relman, D.A., et al. (2007). Dissecting biological "dark matter" with single-cell genetic analysis of rare and uncultivated TM7 microbes from the human mouth. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104, 11889-11894.
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High-throughput quantitative assays of protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein interactions

Maerkl, S.J., and Quake, S.R. (2007). A systems approach to measuring the binding energy landscapes of transcription factors. Science 315, 233-237.
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Maerkl, S.J., and Quake, S.R. (2009). Experimental determination of the evolvability of a transcription factor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106, 18650-18655.
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Fordyce, P.M., Gerber, D., Tran, D., Zheng, J., Li, H., DeRisi, J.L., and Quake, S.R. (2010). De novo identification and biophysical characterization of transcription-factor binding sites with microfluidic affinity analysis. Nat Biotechnol 28, 970-975.
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RNA binding proteins / small molecule screens

Einav, S., Gerber, D., Bryson, P.D., Sklan, E.H., Elazar, M., Maerkl, S.J., Glenn, J.S., and Quake, S.R. (2008). Discovery of a hepatitis C target and its pharmacological inhibitors by microfluidic affinity analysis. Nat Biotechnol 26, 1019-1027.
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Protein-protein interactions

Gerber, D., Maerkl, S.J., and Quake, S.R. (2009). An in vitro microfluidic approach to generating protein-interaction networks. Nat Methods 6, 71-74.
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Bates, S.R., and Quake, S.R. (2009). Highly parallel measurements of interaction kinetic constants with a microfabricated optomechanical device. Appl Phys Lett 95, 73705.
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