Question: How should I ship blood and bone marrow for single-cell sequencing?
Answer: After blood collection, blood tubes can be shipped at 4C or RT for up to 48hrs. Samples stored at 4C show minimized cell stress and high correlation with PBMC samples isolated shortly after blood collection. Samples shipped at RT still show conserved cell populations and global gene expression correlation compared to samples isolated shortly after collection, however, some cell stress is observed in T cells. For users interested in T-cell subpopulations, shipping at 4C is recommended.
For shipping at 4C, place blood tubes in a foam rack or styrofoam mailer before placing them on ice or cold-pack. The sample tube should not touch the ice/cold pack directly, blood can start to freeze and cells can lyse.
If looking to preserve neutrophils:
After collection, samples should be transported at RT (neutrophils do not like cold temperatures) and processed as soon as possible (<24hrs). Our neutrophil demonstrations were processed <6hrs after collection.
If samples will be used in the Fixed RNA Profiling assay, it is important to proceed with sample fixation following the demonstrated protocol for Sample Fixation for Chromium Fixed RNA Profiling immediately after sample preparation.
References:
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-020-02032-0
Products: Single Cell Gene Expression, Single Cell Immune Profiling, Fixed RNA Profiling