Flagship Biosciences, Westminster, Colo, offers utilization of its wet assay development and image analysis quantification capabilities for RNAscope RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) assays by Advanced Cell Diagnostics Inc (ACD), Hayward, Calif.
The two companies will collaborate to optimize quantitative image analysis of RNA ISH tissue samples at Flagship’s CLIA-certified laboratory.
According to the companies, RNA ISH is increasingly used in the development of companion diagnostics, which requires multidisciplinary expertise in pathology, assay development, and image analysis in laboratory environments meeting requirements of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). Flagship has leveraged ACD’s RNA ISH assay platform to support its clients’ ongoing CLIA-based clinical trials, enabling the RNAscope technology to be used in trials of companion diagnostics.
“Flagship focuses on delivering unique fit-for-purpose quantitative pathology results, with advanced experience in both immunohistochemistry (IHC) and ISH assay development and custom image analysis,” says Joseph Krueger, chief science officer at Flagship Biosciences. “Over the last 5 years, our customers have benefited from our ability to focus our resources on unique scientific measurements using image analysis tools, which are able to overcome the obstacles barring clinical utility. By partnering with ACD, we are able to provide the state-of-the art ISH approaches, with quantitative endpoints suitable for a companion diagnostic strategy.”
“One critical feature of the RNAscope assay is its ability to detect individual RNA molecules within the context of tissue morphology,” says Xiao-Jun Ma, chief scientific officer at ACD. “This enables a quantitative expression readout at individual cell level, which opens the door to a higher level of precision biomarker analysis. We are very pleased to work with Flagship to fully leverage this advantage, which is particularly important for the development of companion diagnostics.”
For more information, visit Flagship Biosciences and Advanced Cell Diagnostics.
