The farthest galaxy in the universe
A team of astronomers used the Keck I telescope to measure the distance to an ancient galaxy. They deduced the target galaxy GN-z11 is not only the oldest galaxy but also the most distant. It s so distant it defines the very boundary of the observable universe itself. The team hopes this study can shed light on a period of cosmological history when the universe was only a few hundred million years old.
We ve all asked ourselves the big questions at times: How big is the universe? or How and when did galaxies form? Astronomers take these questions very seriously, and use fantastic tools that push the boundaries of technology to try and answer them. Professor Nobunari Kashikawa from the Department of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo is driven by his curiosity about galaxies. In particular, he sought the most distant one we can observe in order to find out how and when it came to be.
Abstract
Single-cell whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is critical for characterizing dynamic intercellular changes in DNA. Current sample preparation technologies for single-cell WGS are complex, expensive, and suffer from high amplification bias and errors. Here, we describe Digital-WGS, a sample preparation platform that streamlines high-performance single-cell WGS with automatic processing based on digital microfluidics. Using the method, we provide high single-cell capture efficiency for any amount and types of cells by a wetted hydrodynamic structure. The digital control of droplets in a closed hydrophobic interface enables the complete removal of exogenous DNA, sufficient cell lysis, and lossless amplicon recovery, achieving the low coefficient of variation and high coverage at multiple scales. The single-cell genomic variations profiling performs the excellent detection of copy number variants with the smallest bin of 150 kb and single-nucleotide variants with allele dropout rat