Recent technical advances have enabled RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in single cells. Exploratory studies have already led to insights into the dynamics of differentiation, cellular responses to stimulation and the stochastic nature of transcription. We are entering an era of single-cell transcriptomics that holds promise to substantially impact biology and medicine.
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to B. Reinius, J. Muhr, J. Holmberg and members of the Sandberg laboratory for comments on the manuscript. R.S. is supported by the European Research Council Starting grant 243066, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research FFL4 and the Swedish Research Council grant 2008-4562.
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Sandberg, R. Entering the era of single-cell transcriptomics in biology and medicine. Nat Methods 11, 22–24 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2764
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2764