AnaBios Webinar | Single Cell Sequencing to Identify Distinct Cell Populations from Fibrotic Tissue

Dr. Scott MacDonnell, Associate Director of Cardiovascular and Fibrosis Research at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, presented new research focusing on the use of single cell sequencing to identify cell populations from fibrotic tissue in this hour-long webinar. Dr. MacDonnell and his team used an unbiased single cell RNA-sequencing analysis of a bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis model to characterize molecular responses to fibrotic injury. Lung cells were isolated to capture emerging fibrosis and gene expression was analyzed by three complementary techniques which together generated a 49-gene signature that defined an activated subpopulation of fibroblasts. However, none of the identified genes were specific to the activated cells or disease setting, implying that the activated fibroblasts are not uniquely defined but exhibit a similar—yet amplified—gene expression pattern to control cells.