title: Single-cell technologies are revolutionizing the approach to rare cells.
abstract: In the last lustrum single-cell techniques such as single-cell quantitative PCR, RNA and DNA sequencing, and the state-of-the-art cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF) mass cytometer have allowed a detailed analysis of the sub-composition of different organs from the bone marrow hematopoietic compartment to the brain. These fine-grained analyses have highlighted the great heterogeneity within each cell compartment revealing previously unknown subpopulations of cells. In this review, we analyze how this fast technological evolution has improved our understanding of the biological processes with a particular focus on rare cells of the immune system.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK.|European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Proserpio
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK.|European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Tapio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lönnberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology