Curated Menu of Off-the-Shelf RNAscope Probes Provide Molecularly-Guided Region of Interest Selection for Use with the New NGS-Enabled Cancer Transcriptome Atlas
MINNEAPOLIS and SEATTLE, Aug. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH), a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic markets and NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSTG), a leading provider of life science tools for discovery and translational research, today announced an expansion of their partnership to include compatibility with ACD’s 21,000+ RNAscope probes and 10 qualified RNAscope probe combinations with GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP) and the recently launched GeoMx Cancer Transcriptome Atlas (CTA).
A combined workflow has been previously developed that unites the RNAscope reagent portfolio from Bio-Techne with NanoString’s GeoMx RNA Assays to enable researchers to visualize RNA in tissue at the single molecule level to molecularly guide their high-plex spatial analyses on GeoMx DSP. Users can select any RNAscope probe to visualize their FFPE or fresh frozen tissue morphology as an alternative to antibody-based visualization. The full tissue image generated by RNAscope probes is used as a region of interest (ROI) selection on GeoMx DSP for high-plex profiling. Ten new 2- or 3-plex qualified RNAscope probe combinations take this workflow one step further, providing pre-qualified RNAscope reagents for use in the joint workflow to ensure cross assay compatibility. Selected combinations cover key applications in immuno-oncology, including targets difficult to detect with traditional antibodies, such as chemokines, cytokines, immune checkpoints, and key immune cell types.
“One of the top applications of RNAscope is immuno-oncology, which is demonstrated by our large number of top tier publications in this field. Spatial Genomics is enabling key research, broadening our understanding of disease mechanisms and pathology and we are proud to expand its utility through our continued partnership with NanoString,” said Kim Kelderman, President Diagnostics and Genomics Segment, Bio-Techne.
“This next step in our partnership pairs the best of RNAscope’s immuno-oncology imaging content with the comprehensive profiling coverage of the cancer transcriptome with CTA,” said Chad Brown, SVP Sales & Marketing at NanoString. “The launch of the new qualified probes provides an easy to use solution for the spatial visualization and quantification of RNA.”
Users can select from the 10 qualified combinations plus any user-defined probe from the broader RNAscope catalogue to guide selection of ROI followed by profiling of tissue with the CTA. The Cancer Transcriptome Atlas provides quantification of more than 1,800 genes covering 100 pathways critical to understanding tumor biology, immune response and the tumor microenvironment providing a complete spatial view of cancer biology. RNAscope can then be used downstream of GeoMx DSP analysis to confirm findings. The combination of RNAscope’s unprecedented sensitivity, whole slide coverage, and single cell resolution with the high multiplex gene coverage of the GeoMx Cancer Transcriptome Atlas delivers an industry leading assay that enables spatial quantitation.
Qualified RNAscope Probe Combinations are showcased in a joint tech note. https://www.nanostring.com/partnerships/partnerships-overview/geomx-partners/acd-partnership.
To learn more, visit: https://acdbio.com/nanostring-partnership
About Bio-Techne
Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a leading developer and manufacturer of high-quality purified proteins and reagent solutions – notably cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, immunoassays, biologically active small molecule compounds, tissue culture reagents and T-Cell activation technologies. Bio-Techne’s product portfolio also includes protein analysis solutions, sold under the ProteinSimple brand name, offering researchers efficient and streamlined options for automated western blot and multiplexed ELISA workflow. These reagent and protein analysis solutions are sold to biomedical researchers as well as clinical research laboratories and constitute the Protein Sciences Segment. Bio-Techne also develops and manufactures diagnostic products including FDA-regulated controls, calibrators, blood gas and clinical chemistry controls and custom assay development on dedicated clinical instruments. Bio-Techne’s genomic tools include advanced tissue-based in-situ hybridization assays (ISH) for research and clinical use, sold under the ACD brand as well as a portfolio of clinical molecular diagnostic oncology assays, including the ExoDx®Prostate(IntelliScore) test (EPI) for prostate cancer diagnosis. These diagnostic and genomic products comprise Bio-Techne’s Diagnostics and Genomics Segment. Bio-Techne products are integral components of scientific investigations into biological processes and molecular diagnostics, revealing the nature, diagnosis, etiology and progression of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $739 million in net sales in fiscal 2020 and has approximately 2,300 employees worldwide.
About NanoString Technologies, Inc.
NanoString Technologies is a leading provider of life science tools for discovery and translational research. The company’s nCounter® Analysis System is used in life sciences research and has been cited in more than 3,500 peer-reviewed publications. The nCounter Analysis System offers a cost-effective way to easily profile the expression of hundreds of genes, proteins, miRNAs, or copy number variations, simultaneously with high sensitivity and precision, facilitating a wide variety of basic research and translational medicine applications, including biomarker discovery and validation. The company’s GeoMx™ Digital Spatial Profiler enables highly-multiplexed spatial profiling of RNA and protein targets in a variety of sample types, including FFPE tissue sections.
For more information, please visit www.bio-techne.com / www.acdbio.com
NanoString, NanoString Technologies, the NanoString logo, GeoMx, and nCounter are trademarks or registered trademarks of NanoString Technologies, Inc. in various jurisdictions.