Table 2.

Comparison of scRNA-seq platforms

Characteristic	FACS	Microfluidics (e.g. Fluidigm C1TM)	Droplets (DropSeq, InDrop, ChromiumTM, etc.)
Reaction volume	Microliter	Nanoliter	Nanoliter
Throughput	Low to medium (depends on level of automatization of RT, amplification and library preparation processes)	Low to medium (depends on chip design)	High (limited by number of distinct cell barcodes)
Flexibility	Great flexibility to choose methods for RT, amplification and library preparation	Some flexibility to choose methods for RT, amplification and library preparation	Only molecule counting (no full-length transcript coverage)
Additional measurements	Additional data from index sorting (size, granularity, expression of surface markers, DNA content, etc.)	Imaging of the captured cells before lysis	None