New 10x Instruments, Merck Acquires Modifi Biosciences, New Immunogenicity Bioanalysis Features, Partnerships, More

By Bio-IT World Team  

October 30, 2024 |10x Genomics launches two new Chromium products intended to democratize access to single cell analysis; Modifi Biosciences has been acquired by Merck; Sapio Sciences announces the addition of new immunogenicity bioanalysis features to its industry-leading lab informatics platform; and more. 

Modifi Biosciences has been acquired by Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada. Modifi Biosciences has developed a novel class of small molecules that target cancer cells lacking expression of a key DNA repair protein called O6-methylguanine methyl transferase (MGMT). Their research has been validated through its initial work published by the academic founders in Science in 2022, and subsequent pre-clinical data across a number of tumor models, including patient-derived xenograft models of gliomas and other cancers with intrinsic DNA repair defects. Press release. 

Dyno Therapeutics announced its second research collaboration with Roche to develop next-generation adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for gene therapies targeting neurological diseases. Dyno and Roche previously announced a research collaboration and license agreement for neurological diseases and liver-directed therapies in October 2020. Under the terms of the new agreement, Dyno is responsible for the design and discovery of novel AAV capsids with improved functional properties. Roche in turn is responsible for conducting capsid validation studies and further preclinical, clinical, and commercialization activities for multiple neurological gene therapy product candidates leveraging novel Dyno capsids. Press release.

Axol fully acquired Phenocell SAS, a pioneer in iPSC-based products and bioassays for skin and retinal disorders. The acquisition extends Axol’s portfolio of iPSC-derived cell models, adding skin and human retinal iPSC-derived cell lines to its existing neuroscience, pain and touch, and cardiovascular products and services. Phenocell’s offering includes market-leading human iPSC-derived sebocytes and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor cells. Additionally, the company provides custom, skin and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) services to support drug discovery companies. Press release. 

Astoriom acquired Flagship Biosciences. The acquisition was inspired by the increasing demand from customers for an U.S.-based East Coast facility and the company’s commitment to grow its global presence through an M&A strategy. This new U.S. location, based in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, providing greater biorepository services and capacity in North America. Press release. 

10x Genomics launched two new Chromium products intended to democratize access to single cell analysis. The new offerings—GEM-X Flex and GEM-X Universal Multiplex—introduce significant improvements in performance, workflow, and cost effectiveness, enabling more researchers to pursue single cell analysis for more applications. These launches are part of the company's strategy to drive widespread adoption of single cell analysis by lowering customer costs in multiple directions: per cell, per sample, per experiment, and per project. Press release. 

Sapio Sciences announced the addition of new immunogenicity bioanalysis features to its industry-leading lab informatics platform. These new capabilities in the Sapio Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and Sapio Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) solutions streamline testing workflows for detecting anti-drug antibodies (ADA) and neutralizing antibodies (NAb). Key features of the ELN and LIMS include tiered testing support, which supports the full range of immunogenicity testing, from ADA and NAb assays to screening, confirmatory, and titer testing. Press release. 

Vizgen and Ultivue merged. The companies are combining to establish a single organization uniquely positioned to drive future technology breakthroughs and respond to researchers’ desire for unified solutions in spatial multi-omics. This merger unites Vizgen’s MERFISH spatial genomics technology, including its MERSCOPE Ultra Spatial Imaging platform, with Ultivue’s high-fidelity InSituPlex assays and AI-powered STARVUE platform. These technologies provide researchers with the sub-cellular precision required to understand interactions at the molecular level. Press release. 

Ginkgo Bioworks and Virica Biotech partnered to enhance each company’s adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy manufacturing platforms. This collaboration aims to tackle one of the major barriers to the widespread adoption of AAV-based gene therapies: the high cost of manufacturing. This combined effort will leverage the Ginkgo's AAV Services for Gene Therapy and Virica's proprietary VSE enhancer platform to offer innovators services and products to enhance AAV production titers and quality to reduce production costs and make gene therapies more accessible to patients. Press release. 

Certara completed the acquisition of Chemaxon. Chemaxon develops scientific informatics software products used by the life sciences industry for in silico research. Certara develops advanced modeling and biosimulation solutions used to predict the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of large and small molecules. Near-term projects include incorporating precision chemistry structures, calculators, and predictors into the Certara D360 scientific informatics applications and Simcyp PBPK Simulator for improved prediction accuracy. Longer-term plans include leveraging Certara.AI’s life sciences specialized GPT capabilities and bringing knowledge of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics more broadly into the drug discovery process and Chemaxon products including Design Hub and JChem Engines. Press release. 

Xcellbio expanded its collaboration with AmplifyBio through the installation of a new AVATAR Foundry system as part of Xcellbio’s beta access program. The new instrument will enable AmplifyBio’s team to advance from small-scale workflows on the previously installed AVATAR Odyssey platform to achieve automated cell therapy manufacturing workflows suitable for clinical use. Xcellbio and AmplifyBio have an ongoing collaboration aimed at streamlining and improving the manufacturing process for engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) therapies targeting solid tumors, which have proven difficult to treat with cell therapies due to the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Through this collaboration, scientists are working to identify key elements for successful manufacture of TCR therapies, such as the relationship between various T cell conditioning matrices and product characteristics such as phenotype, metabolic profile, and potency. Press release. 

ERS and Université de Montréal (UdeM) announced a non-exclusive CRISPR/Cas9 license agreement. The agreement grants the university access to ERS’ CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio, including enabling the launch of two CRISPR/Cas9 screening facility platforms at UdeM’s Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer. Press release.   

Genialis announced the commercial availability of Genialis krasID, the first biomarker algorithm that can predict patient response and clinical benefit to KRAS inhibitors (KRASi) across tissue histology and mutation type. Genialis krasID can help guide drug development from early preclinical phases (e.g., compound/MOA differentiation and selection), to clinical trials (e.g., patient selection for clinical trials and identification of combination therapies), to market access and clinical care (e.g., development of CDx and as a clinical decision tool). Genialis krasID uses machine learning (AI/ML) to model dozens of biological processes from the gene expression of patient-derived tumors, providing incomparably more information and predictive power than traditional mutation-based diagnostics. Press release. 

Cytiva and Pear Bio collaborated to advance cancer research and personalized treatment. Pear Bio is using Cytiva’s Via Extractor technology to create dissociated tumor cell suspensions with high viability and yield, revolutionizing tumor cell analysis. Pear Bio processes tumor cells and matched patient immune cells, culturing them ex vivo in 3D environments to test the efficacy of FDA-approved therapies specific to various cancer indications using Cytiva's Via Extractor tissue disaggregator technology. Over five days, a confocal scanning microscope performs 3D imaging of the microtumors, and Pear Bio’s proprietary Computer Vision Pipeline analyzes the data to generate dozens of phenotypic biomarkers that reveal the drug's impact on the microtumors. The quality and viability of these tumor cells in their single-cell suspension are critical to Pear Bio’s downstream workflow, ensuring precise, and reliable results. Press release. 

Wheeler Bio expanded capabilities through the licensing of ATUM's innovative miFuc platform designed for expression of recombinant proteins containing afucosylated glycans. ATUM's miFuc technology is a platform for the development of antibodies with significant reduction in fucosylation without affecting product titer, cellular growth rates, or incurring global glycan liabilities. Enabled by ATUM's proprietary Leap-In Transposase technology, antibodies produced using miFuc embedded expression vectors exhibit significantly increased antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), resulting in improved efficacy for select therapeutics. This license agreement allows Wheeler Bio's clients the option to produce therapeutic antibodies with greater effector engagement and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity for increased therapeutic windows with reduced toxicity. Press release.