Akoya’s Cutting-Edge Spatial Biology Technologies Gain Momentum in Life Sciences
Scientist
on
November 20, 2023
This blog post is sponsored by Akoya Biosciences, the Spatial Biology Company®, whose mission is to bring context to the world of biology and human health through spatial phenotyping.
If you’re in the life sciences field, chances are you understand the importance of building your research on trusted and proven technologies. As scientists, while we continuously forge into unexplored territories, we need to be confident that the tools we employ have been rigorously tested.
To this end, Akoya has made significant waves in the scientific community. As of July 2023, technologies developed by Akoya have been cited in over 1,000 scientific publications, encompassing revered journals like Nature, Frontiers and Cell. Coupled with the fact that they marked their 1,000th instrument shipment in April 2023, Akoya is swiftly becoming a frontrunner in the field of spatial biology.
The company offers comprehensive single-cell imaging solutions that allow researchers to phenotype cells with spatial context and visualize how they organize and interact to influence disease progression and response to therapy. Akoya offers a full continuum of spatial phenotyping solutions via its key platforms: PhenoCycler®, PhenoImager® Fusion and PhenoImager HT. The company also recently launched PhenoCycler®-Fusion 2.0 and PhenoImager® HT 2.0 platform upgrades. Enhancements to the PhenoCycler-Fusion 2.0 System allow customers to process twice as many samples per week with unprecedented speed and scale, making it the highest throughput spatial discovery platform on the market. The PhenoImager 2.0 platform delivers a 5x workflow improvement by enabling rapid real-time image analysis directly on the HT instrument.
Let’s quickly delve into some pivotal insights these papers offer:
1. The PhenoCycler Platform (formerly CODEX):
- Ultrahigh-Plex Capability: The PhenoCycler-Fusion, launched in 2022, can explore up to 100+ markers on a single tissue section, according to one of the papers. With the Phenocycler-Fusion’s speed and unbiased whole-slide imaging approach, researchers are able to delve into immune landscapes, vascularization and more with unprecedented detail. A notable mention is Dr. Arutha Kulasinghe’s exploration of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) using Akoya’s technologies. Check out this webinar to learn more about the application.
- Fast Adoption: 35% of PhenoCycler-related papers have been published in the last 6 months.
- Broad Research Spectrum: From Dr. Sizun Jiang’s study on Ebola infection responses to Dr. John Hickey’s groundbreaking spatial map of the human intestine, the applications are diverse and groundbreaking.
- 2.0 Solution: PhenoCycler-Fusion 2.0 now introduces multi-slide automation with parallel processing of slides. This advanced capability amplifies the ability to uncover more discoveries faster than ever before.
2. The PhenoImager Platform (formerly Vectra and Mantra):
- The PhenoImager platforms can measure up to 8 biomarkers simultaneously making it the favored choice for high-throughput, large scale studies.
- Highlighting Oncology: Many studies, like Dr. Lucile Vanhersecke’s paper on immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy, have centered on oncology, but the applications don’t stop there. Dr. Wei Qiao’s research on the impacts of SAR-CoV-2 on bone loss and Dr. Alexander Staal’s investigation into aneurysm formation highlight the platform’s broader potential.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Akoya plans to release a series of blog posts delving deeper into these groundbreaking studies. They’re also offering the following on-demand webinars covering some of their work:
- Watch now on-demand: Spatial Phenotyping: A Revolutionary Approach to Biomarker Discovery for Cancer Immunotherapy
- Watch now on-demand: Exploring Predictive Biomarkers and ERK1/2 Phosphorylation: A New Horizon in Forecasting Survival and Response to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Glioblastoma Treatment