Analyzing samples such as heart cells from hundreds of donors (pictured) has the potential to reveal new insights into disease. Credit: Trevor Atkeson and Madhavi Pandya, Garvan Institute
Key points:
- Researchers developed a new technique to study stem cell samples from hundreds of individuals in the same culture dish.
- The technique can make studies up to 100 times more effective.
- The approach has transformative potential for personalized treatments and the study of complex human traits.
“It takes a village,” is not only advice for parenting. According to a new study, the village approach is also effective for stem cell research.
Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have developed a method to study stem cell samples from hundreds of individuals in the same culture dish. The approach has potential for personalized treatments and the study of complex human traits.
Previous studies in population genomics have relied on bulk RNA sequencing to assess gene expression, which effectively averages the varied expression of different cell types into a single measure. This masks potential differences between individual cells or cell types and can provide an incomplete or biased view of gene expression in the sample.
To overcome these challenges, researchers developed the village-in-a-dish approach, where stem cells from multiple donors are cultured in a single dish and analyzed using a technique called single-cell sequencing. Their findings show that the method retains the key features of the individual cultures. This provides an efficient solution for scaling experiments to the vast sample sizes required to give an accurate snapshot of the population.
Data from the paper shows studies that use the need method can be up to 100 times more efficient. The technique can also enable fast-tracked clinical trials to predict how groups of patients may respond to drugs, enabling the discovery of new treatments.
“By studying cells from many individuals at once, we can identify genetic factors that influence disease and treatment response at an unprecedented scale,” said Drew Neavin, first author of the paper and postdoctoral scientist at Garvan. “An example is assessing cardiac toxicity, or Lewy body accumulation in Parkinson’s disease across hundreds of cell lines derived from patients. Rather than reflecting single individuals, such studies would reveal shared and distinct responses among genetic groups. The insights could then inform clinical trials by pre-selecting patient populations likely to benefit. Overall, this approach could transform our ability to translate stem cell science into precision treatments.”