CyroSCAPE: Scalable Immune Profiling Using Cryopreserved Whole Blood for Multi-omic Single Cell and Functional Assays

The field of single cell technologies has rapidly advanced our comprehension of the human immune system, offering unprecedented insights into cellular heterogeneity and immune function. While cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples enable deep characterization of immune cells, challenges in clinical isolation and preservation limit their application in underserved communities. We present CryoSCAPE (Cryopreservation for Scalable Cellular And Proteomic Exploration), a scalable method for immune studies of human PBMC with multi-omic single cell assays using direct cryopreservation of whole blood. This method, optimized for scalability and cost-effectiveness, allows for high-throughput single cell sequencing and functional assays while addressing sample handling challenges in the clinic. Comparative analyses and functional assays of human PBMC from cryopreserved whole blood demonstrate the efficacy of this methodology in capturing cell proportions and molecular features, showcasing its potential to democratize access to single-cell assays and enhance our understanding of immune function across underserved populations.