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Synthetic Biology

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synthetic biology icon

Synthetic Biology

Effortlessly build, test, and learn

The key benefits of picodroplets – scale and speed – also address the needs of synthetic biology. Evaluate large libraries quickly and confidently to find your next product. If there’s a project that you think we can help you with, please get in touch with our team!

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  • Microbes, plants, yeast, and fungi
  • Integrated mass spectrometry
  • Scale and speed to make build, test, and learn a reality

Built on picodroplet technology

At the heart of our platforms are picodroplets – picolitre-volume aqueous droplets in a carrier oil. Each droplet acts as a tiny separate test tube. Cells are encapsulated in droplets with the assay reagents and passed through microfluidics for sorting and dispensing. Miniaturized, high-speed and fully automated to streamline your application.​

Learn more about our technology

Scale, speed, and precision

Microbes, plants, yeast and fungi

Much more than mammalian cells

Picodroplet technology can be applied to a wide variety of non-mammalian cells. The same principles of single cell encapsulation and gentle handling give a broad range of applications. Excellent gas exchange characteristics into the droplets ensure cell viability and strong replication. Validated organisms include E. coli, S. cerevisiae, and C. reinhardtii.

Mass spectrometry and picodroplets

Beyond fluorescence

Biological targets, such as metabolites and enzymes, are not always easily detected – or even compatible – with fluorescent assays. We’ve developed a new platform where mass spectrometry is directly integrated with picodroplets to give real-time high-throughput assessment and selection of ‘hit’ cells. By splitting the droplet, we can pass half the material to the mass spectrometer for testing and retain the other half. Once the spectrum is measured, a selection decision is made in real time and on-the-fly – and the retained cells are kept alive for further processing. 

Scale and speed

Screen millions of cells a day

Picodroplets give the best of both worlds. Encapsulating cells in droplets provides a gentle environment that allows high-speed manipulation, such as sorting, without damage or cross-talk between droplets. At the same time, each droplet is assessed individually to understand the local micro-environment derived from a single monoclonal cell. You can assess millions of cells in a day – every day.

Integrated build, test, and learn

Go round the cycle easily

The heart of synthetic biology is the design-build-test-learn cycle – carried out on a massive scale. Picodroplets allow integrated high-speed editing, assessment, and selection of large populations of cells. This particularly supports approaches such as directed evolution where the cycle is repeated over and again.

Seeing is believing

Don’t take our word for it – come and see our technology in action. We provide demos and proof-of-concept projects for our customers so you can build confidence in what our platforms can do for your synthetic biology research.

  • Demos at your site or at our site in Cambridge, UK
  • Use our cell lines and assays, or use yours
  • Proof-of-concept projects – try something novel
View Cyto-Mine®Book a demo

Resources & insights

What our customers are saying

We’re the droplet microfluidic technology company for single cell analysis and our customers are at the center of what we do

Our integrated,
automated platforms
increase efficiency,
delivering value.
Our unmatched
picodroplet technology
is future proof
Our platform is built upon robust evidence from key opinion leaders
Our collaboration with customers is
second to none

Have a question for us?

Our team of experts are on hand to provide you with the information and support you need. Whether you have a question about our products, services or training, we're always happy to assist you

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