Table 2.

Pros and cons of current single-cell capture and processing methods.

Cell capture method	Throughput, cells per day	Cost per cell	cDNA output
manual/automated cell picking	tens of cells	tens of dollars	5', 3', or full-length cDNA
flow cytometry	hundreds of cells	dollars	5', 3', or full-length cDNA
microfluidics	tens or hundreds*	dollars	full-length cDNA (barcoded*)
droplets	tens of thousands	cents	3' tag, already barcoded

^*Fluidigm’s yet-to-be-published high-throughput chip is expected to capture up to 800 cells per run, with some level of on-chip barcoding.