About the Course

This course is targeted at young postdoctoral researchers and Ph.D. students, who are interested in microarray based analysis of genomic DNA, mRNA and microRNA of single or few cells. The lectures cover mainly three parts:

i) isolation of single or few cells with a focus on microdissection, fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS) and magnetic cell sorting (MACS)

ii) isolation and amplification of the RNA and DNA from single or few cells

iii) generation and interpretation of gene expression profiles using microarrays and bioinformatics.

Beside the methodological aspects, selected examples of single cell analysis in the field of e.g. neurobiology and immunology will be presented and discussed. Participants will be taught in groups (two participants per group) hands-on how to get and interpret transcriptome data from single or few cells when starting with complex cell mixtures or tissues. If participants wish to bring their own samples (e.g. biopsies, cell cultures, slices, purified RNA) they are asked to specify this on the application form. Course participants will be expected to present their current research work in form of posters and short oral presentations.