HiPPO

HiPPO profiles cellular populations from mass cytometry (Cytometry by Time-Of-Flight, CyTOF) single-cell data to identify and quantify cell subpopulations and test for protein expression differences across experimental conditions.

Key Features:

• CyTOF compatibility: Handles high-dimensional mass cytometry (CyTOF) data with measurement of over 40 parameters per cell.
• High-dimensional data reduction: Reduces complexity of high-dimensional single-cell data to enable visualization of homogeneous cell clusters.
• Subpopulation identification and quantification: Identifies and quantifies cell subpopulations within heterogeneous samples.
• PANDA integration: Maps identified cell subpopulations to the Population Analysis Database (PANDA) containing protein expression profiles for selected primary cell markers.
• Custom cell definitions: Accepts user-submitted cell definitions for targeted identification of specific cell types or states.
• Access to clusters: Exposes all identified cell clusters for subsequent downstream analyses.
• Statistical testing: Implements nonparametric tests to assess significance of differences in protein expression between experimental conditions.
• Computational efficiency: Operates with a minimal computational footprint to enable rapid processing of CyTOF datasets.

Scientific Applications:

• Cellular heterogeneity analysis: Dissects heterogeneity in complex single-cell samples using high-dimensional CyTOF measurements.
• Cell type identification: Assigns cell subpopulations to cell types via mapping to PANDA protein expression profiles for selected markers.
• Abundance monitoring: Quantifies and monitors changes in cell type abundance across experimental conditions.
• Comparative protein expression: Detects statistically significant differences in protein expression between experimental groups using nonparametric tests.
• Targeted cell-state analysis: Enables targeted identification of specific cell states through user-defined cell definitions.

Methodology:

Performs high-dimensional data reduction and visualization to define homogeneous cell clusters; maps identified clusters to the PANDA repository of protein expression profiles for selected primary cell markers; accepts user-supplied cell definitions; and applies nonparametric statistical tests to compare protein expression between experimental conditions.