Canopy Biosciences Introduces High-Plex Spatial Biology Assay for Quantitative Immune Cell Profiling

ST. LOUIS, Missouri ─ April 6, 2021 ─ Canopy Biosciences, a Bruker Company, today announced the launch of its Spatial Immune Cell Profiling Assay for formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples. The new targeted proteomics assay is run on Canopy’s ZellScanner instrument, which enables precise spatial multiplexing with greater than single-cell resolution, and quantification with high dynamic range over eight orders of magnitude of protein abundance.

The new assay panel includes 16 protein biomarkers that can be used to identify and quantify 23 different immune cell populations, including T-cell, B-cell, and dendritic cell subtyping. The assay was developed specifically for FFPE tissue samples, one of the most widely used sample types in clinical and biomedical sciences. The Spatial Immune Cell Profiling Assay is initially available as a service, with researchers sending their samples to Canopy for analysis. Canopy also plans to release the panel as a reagent kit at a later date for researchers to run on ZellScanner instruments in their own labs.

Robust analytics enables the ZellScanner high-plex spatial imaging platform to quantify and identify discrete cell types using gating strategies similar to flow cytometry. In addition to purchasing this instrument, researchers can send samples to Canopy for analysis. The Spatial Immune Cell Profiling Assay can be customized with the addition of researcher-selected antibodies for detecting additional biomarkers. Samples are stably stored on the platform’s ZellSafe chips and can be reinterrogated for additional biomarkers after analysis.

“There’s been a tremendous need in the clinical research community for immune cell profiling assays in FFPE tissues that can spatially resolve as well as quantify individual cells,” said Canopy Product Manager Thomas Campbell, PhD. “The Spatial Immune Cell Profiling Assay addresses those needs, finally giving researchers the spatial context, single-cell resolution, and high dynamic range quantification needed to fully understand immune responses. We designed this assay from the ground up to specifically work in FFPE tissues, the most abundant tissue sample type being used today.”

For more information on the Spatial Immune Cell Profiling Assay, visit info.canopybiosciences.com/chip-cytometry-ffpe.

The ZellScanner One instrument from Canopy Biosciences is a fully integrated automated imaging system that enables quantitative measurements of high-plex protein biomarker assays across a range of sample types. Using sequential labelling and photobleaching on ZellSafe microfluidic chips, a virtually unlimited number of biomarkers can be visualized and quantified. ZellScanner One produces high-resolution, high-dynamic-range (HDR) images that are analyzed by powerful AI-driven software to quantify gene expression with true single-cell resolution.