Towards single cell proteomics

Single cell proteomics has been done, so far, using antibody-based technologies such as CyToF. However, these techniques suffer from a limited number of proteins that can be measured in one experiment and limited by availability of antibodies. Single cell, mass spectrometry based, proteomics is an emerging alternative. It is now possible to measure over 1,000 proteins from a few dozens cells directly by bottom up proteomics. This has become possible due to significant improvements in sample preparation, chromatography and mass spectrometry.We have applied mass spectrometry analysis of a single human polyploid blastocyst (approximately 250 cells) as compared to approximately 140 trophectoderm cells isolated from several polyploid blastocysts, all of which were derived from in vitro fertilization.