Metabolic Chemical Analysis on Single Cells

Individual cells have unique physiologies and produce different metabolites even within cells of the same tissue. As such, a method for investigating a single cell without destroying it or surrounding cells is desired to further understand these unique cellular processes. The Verbeck group specializes on investigating the localized chemistry of individual cells and organelles with the use of the nanomanipulator and nanospray-ionization mass spectrometry. We have demonstrated the importance of single cell analysis by establishing distinct metabolomic heterogeneity between healthy and cancerous human adipocytes in breast tissue, and are currently analyzing the lipid content of healthy and diabetic adipocytes in vitro.