Complementary Sequential Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) and Cell-Free Tumor DNA (ctDNA) Profiling Reveals Metastatic Heterogeneity and Genomic Changes in Lung Cancer and Breast Cancer.

Introduction: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and cell-free tumor DNA (ctDNA) are tumor components present in circulation. Due to the limited access to both CTC enrichment platforms and ctDNA sequencing in most laboratories, they are rarely analyzed together.

Methods: Concurrent isolation of ctDNA and single CTCs were isolated from lung cancer and breast cancer patients using the combination of size-based and CD45-negative selection method DropCell platform.

Concurrent Single-Cell RNA and Targeted DNA Sequencing on an Automated Platform for Comeasurement of Genomic and Transcriptomic Signatures.

Background: The comeasurement of both genomic and transcriptomic signatures in single cells is of fundamental importance to accurately assess how the genetic information correlates with the transcriptomic phenotype. However, existing technologies have low throughput and laborious work flows.

Methods: We developed a new method for concurrent sequencing of the transcriptome and targeted genomic regions (CORTAD-seq) within the same single cell on an automated microfluidic platform.

Structural analyses of 2015-updated drug-resistant mutations in HIV-1 protease: an implication of protease inhibitor cross-resistance.

Background: Strategies to control HIV for improving the quality of patient lives have been aided by the Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART), which consists of a cocktail of inhibitors targeting key viral enzymes. Numerous new drugs have been developed over the past few decades but viral resistances to these drugs in the targeted viral enzymes are increasingly reported. Nonetheless the acquired mutations often reduce viral fitness and infectivity.