Leica Biosystems, Wetzlar, Germany, has entered into a partnership to comarket UltiMapper immunohistochemistry assays by Ultivue, Cambridge, Mass, with Leica’s Bond Rx research use only staining platform.
Under the agreement, Ultivue’s UltiMapper single-step assays have been preoptimized for staining on the Bond Rx platform, creating a fully automated plug-and-play solution. The combined platform enables users to create 30 five-color, high-performance, multiplexed immunohistochemistry slides in less than 6 hours, all while preserving tissue morphology and integrity.
Ultivue’s unique DNA barcode attached to each antibody enables all antibodies to be stained in a single step, transforming a multiday manual process into an automated process that can be performed in a standard work day. UltiMapper and Bond Rx complement one another, eliminating the need for researchers to perform difficult manual operations, and instead enabling them to focus on analyzing test results.
Leica Biosystems offers researchers a complete end-to-end workflow solution. Automated staining of UltiMapper assays on the Bond Rx platform, and slide scanning and quantification using the Aperio Versa fluorescence tissue scanner and Aperio Cellular IF algorithm, brings new technologies to more researchers.
“With tissue sample sizes decreasing, and scientific advancements expanding the number of actionable biomarkers, multiplexing is an increasingly common technique used by researchers to explore complex biology,” says Colin White, PhD, global vice president for advanced staining at Leica Biosystems. “We are very pleased to be able to offer investigators an automated version of Ultivue’s UltiMapper multiplexing technology on the Bond Rx, thereby supporting research excellence through workflow efficiency and stain consistency.”
By developing a single set of novel, proprietary reagents used for both biomarker discovery (high content, low throughput) and clinical use (lower content, high throughput), Ultivue is connecting the insights gained from research directly into the pathology lab. Applied to tissue biopsy samples, UltiMapper multiplexed assays enable simultaneous quantitation of multiple biomarkers with subcellular spatial resolution, and fit completely within traditional immunohistochamistry workflows.
Translational and clinical researchers leverage UltiMapper assays to elucidate complex biology and demonstrate their clinical utility as precision medicine tools. Ultivue is expanding its UltiMapper assay portfolio and menu of contract research services to provide a comprehensive set of personalized medicine solutions for oncology and other therapeutic areas.
“We are delighted to partner with Leica Biosystems to bring to the research market a complete, automated solution to realize the full potential of tissue-based, multiplexed marker studies at high throughput,” says Philippe Mourere, senior vice president of commercial operations at Ultivue. “Through our growing immunooncology portfolio of kits and assays, translational and clinical researchers have immediate access to unbiased biology with the ability to colocalize markers on single cells, and to functionally characterize cellular interactions within the tumor microenvironment. Looking ahead, we are expanding our level of multiplexing and widening our content offering to adjacent research areas.”
For further information, visit Leica Biosystems and Ultivue.