Fluidigm Announces New High Throughput Workflow for Single-Cell mRNA Sequencing

Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ: FLDM) announced a new workflow that enables high throughput single-cell mRNA sequencing. This workflow, which was presented today at the Society for Neuroscience Conference, outlines significant advances in integrated fluidic circuit (IFC) design and chemistry to massively increase throughput and ease-of-use while simultaneously decreasing the cost of single-cell preparation. A full commercial version is expected to be available in the first half of 2015.

“Increasingly, researchers in a wide range of biological fields need to profile substantially larger numbers of individual cells,” said Gajus Worthington, Fluidigm President and Chief Executive Officer. “This requirement can be driven by a quest to find rare sub-populations, such as cancer stem cells, or a desire to discover more types of neurons, to more fully understand the molecular complexity of the immune system, or even to categorize all the cells in a single organism. We are building this workflow to enable these and many other kinds of experiments,” he continued.

These enhancements provide an eight-fold increase in throughput per run making studies of 10k - 100k cells attainable. The new workflow includes breakthroughs in IFC design to enable capture and processing of up to 750 single cells per run. Other advancements include a barcoding on the IFC and sample pooling to decrease hands-on time, an optimized reagent kit, validated scripts to automate cell processing and a demultiplex pipeline plug-in.

The combination of increased output, workflow efficiencies, chemistry advancements and data density per sequencing run will cut the cost-per-cell for cell preparation and sequencing.

“With a global installed base of over 200 C1TM systems, our customers have been pushing the envelope of biology. Our goal with this new chip is to inspire the single-cell research community to design and execute experiments that were impossible until now,” said Candia L. Brown, Fluidigm Single-Cell Genomics Business Director of Product Marketing. “Fluidigm is committed to extending the C1 system’s capability and application menu to deliver greater scale and flexibility to our users.”

Technology

The Fluidigm C1 Single-Cell Auto Prep System is based on the company's innovative microfluidic technology that enables researchers to rapidly and reliably isolate, process, and profile individual cells for genomic analysis. The high throughput single-cell mRNA sequencing workflow will be the latest application enabled on the C1 system, which currently supports targeted gene expression, mRNA sequencing, miRNA expression profiling, targeted DNA sequencing and whole exome sequencing.

Use of Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to Fluidigm's new products and Fluidigm's opportunities, objectives, expectations and/or strategies relating to such new products. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from currently anticipated results, including challenges inherent in developing, manufacturing, launching, marketing, and selling new products. Information on these and additional risks affecting Fluidigm's business and operating results are contained in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Fluidigm disclaims any obligation to update these statements except as may be required by law.

About Fluidigm

Fluidigm (NASDAQ:FLDM) develops, manufactures, and markets life science analytical and preparatory systems for growth markets such as single-cell biology and production genomics. We sell to leading academic institutions, clinical laboratories, and pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agricultural biotechnology companies worldwide. Our systems are based on proprietary microfluidics and multi-parameter mass cytometry technology, and are designed to significantly simplify experimental workflow, increase throughput, and reduce costs, while providing excellent data quality. Fluidigm products are provided for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

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Fluidigm, the Fluidigm logo, and C1 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fluidigm Corporation.