The Xdrop technology

Microfluidics-based solutions delivering high-resolution insights into cells and genomes.
Curious? Keep reading.

Droplet formation

 

What makes Xdrop® special?

FOR GENOMIC WORKFLOW

LONG-RANGE GENOMIC INFORMATION
capture long fragments of DNA (up to 100 kb)

SMALL INPUT, LARGE OUTPUT
go from ng to µg amounts of DNA

WORK WITH UKNOWN SEQUENCES
you just need to know a short piece within or flanking the target

SINGLE-MOLECULE RESOLUTION
gain an unbiased view of your target’s variation

FOR CELL WORKFLOW

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS IN A SINGLE-CELL FORMAT
gain an unbiased view of your target cell

RECOVERY OF CELLS 
Cells can be recovered and expanded for further anlysis

Droplet properties

Single-emulsion versus double-emulsion droplets

An emulsion forms when two unmixable fluids are forced together. At Samplix, we work with two types of emulsion droplets: single- and double-emulsion droplets. The single-emulsion (SE) droplets have an inner aqueous phase where reagents can be kept in an aqueous buffer surrounded by oil (water-in-oil) (Fig. on the left side). The double-emulsion droplets also have an inner aqueous core, but this core is enclosed by an oil shell inside an outer water buffer (water-in-oil-in water) (Fig. on the right side).  

Variation in inner diameter and permeability

Double-emulsion droplets produced with Xdrop are uniform in size and shape. The droplets display a specific permeability to fluorophores and compounds.

Single emulsion vs Double emulsion

Table DE SE  (1)

How are double-emulsion droplets beneficial?

Xdrop and Xdrop Sort produce double-emulsion droplets that act as picoliter-sized reaction chambers or microenvironments for your cells, making it possible to:

  • Accelerate workflows by increasing the rate of cell–cell interactions or buildup of cell secretions
  • Gain a single-cell view that reveals functional heterogeneity
  • Vastly simplify workflows with straightforward protocols on our benchtop instrument
  • Recover the cells with the desired properties using Xdrop Sort or a fluorescence-based sorting system

Proven performance with cells

Xdrop has proven performance in a range of single-cell format applications, including:

  • Incubation of natural killer (NK) cells, T cells, and B cells
  • Lymphoblast killing by NK cells
  • Cytokine secretion by NK cells and T cells

Both Xdrop and Xdrop Sort have proven performance with microbial cells, including

  • Single-cell incubation of yeast and bacterial cells
  • Enzyme secretion by yeast and bacterial cells

Pictured: Bright field (top) and merged bright field and fluorescent (bottom) images of cellulase-expressing Escherichia coli cell in a double-emulsion droplet (provided by the Schwaneberg Group, RWTH Aachen University)

E coli expressing cellulase

How it works - a quick overview

For Genomic workflow

samplix web diagram2

For cell workflow

samplix web diagram2