Cartana, Lunaphore and Stockholm University collaborate on automated Next Generation In Situ Sequencing

CARTANA AB, Lunaphore Technologies S.A, and Prof. Dr. Mats Nilsson’s laboratory at Science for Life laboratory, Stockholm University, announce a collaboration on the integration and automation of CARTANA’s Next Generation In Situ Sequencing (NGISS) on Lunaphore’s microfluidic tissue processor technology.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden and LAUSANNE, Switzerland – June 10, 2019 – CARTANA AB, Lunaphore Technologies S.A, and Prof. Dr. Mats Nilsson’s laboratory at Science for Life laboratory, Stockholm University, announce a collaboration on the integration and automation of CARTANA’s Next Generation In Situ Sequencing (NGISS) on Lunaphore’s microfluidic tissue processor technology. The team aims to deliver a complete hard-, soft- and “wetware"-automated solution that will greatly simplify in situ sequencing workflows in laboratories. A novel hardware design allows the integration with standard fluorescent microscopes, controlled by a plug-in software module, and facilitates automation of sequencing and imaging cycles. The team was granted a Eurostars-2 grant to support the effort.

“We are delighted to run this project together with Lunaphore and Stockholm University“ says Malte Kühnemund, CEO of Cartana. “In this project we will introduce a new generation of ISS chemistry with improved performance, and together with Lunaphore we expect to overcome the bottleneck of automating sequencing and imaging cycles, which will make it easy for our customers to establish ISS on microscopes they already have in their laboratories”.

Diego Dupouy, CTO at Lunaphore, mentions: “We have shown during our first Eurostars project that ISS can be automated using Lunaphore’s platform. We are thrilled to start our second collaboration with Prof. Nilsson’s laboratory and CARTANA” and adds: “We believe that the combination of NGISS chemistry together with Lunaphore’s fast fluidic exchange technology can transform the field of spatial transcriptomics, by reaching unprecedented throughput and automation levels.

CARTANA AB, a Swedish biotech company develops and commercializes ISS technologies for application in CNS and other various tissue types. Dr Mats Nilsson’s laboratory at Science for life laboratory, Stockholm University, has a long track record of scientific achievements within molecular analysis tools and their translation into commercial products. Lunaphore Technologies, a Swiss medtech company, is developing innovative equipment for cancer research and tissue diagnostics based on a novel microfluidic tissue processor lying at the core of Lunaphore’s innovation, which is able to dramatically increase the speed of tests, with high quality and reproducibility. The knowledge and expertise of these organizations will now be combined and once functional, a joint business effort will ensure that ISS throughput and reproducibility in standard laboratories will be greatly improved.

“This project has received funding from the Eurostars-2 Joint Programme with co-funding from the European Union´s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme”.

This communication related to the Eurostars-2 Programme reflects only the author´s view and that the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

About Lunaphore

Lunaphore Technologies S.A. is a Swiss company founded in 2014 with the vision of bringing omics-like approaches to cancer research and tissue diagnostics and has been recognized as one of the most innovative companies nationally and internationally. Its award-winning technology based on microfluidics, known as FFeX (Fast Fluidic Exchange), enables ultra-rapid automation of sophisticated high-multiplicity tests with direct digitalization where applicable.

About Mats Nilsson Lab, Stockholm University

The Molecular Diagnostics group at Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, headed by Prof. Mats Nilsson, focuses on developing molecular analysis tools for research and diagnostics, and to integrate them with analytical system concepts. The group has a multi-disciplinary approach and the collaborations range from research groups in physics and engineering to biomedical scientists and clinicians.

http://www.su.se/english/profiles/matsn-1.191373

About CARTANA

CARTANA, a Swedish Spatial Genomics company based in Stockholm is a spin-out from Mats Nilsson’s lab at Science for Life Laboratory that commercializes in situ sequencing (ISS) that has been developed in the Nilsson lab over decades. ISS quantitatively measures expression of hundreds of genes in a single tissue section at single-cell resolution. CARTANA recently launched a full-scale ISS service offer to customers worldwide and will soon launch its the next generation of ISS products for CNS, oncology and other tissue types.

http://www.cartana.se

For further information contact:

LUNAPHORE

Irene Tamayo

Lunaphore Corporate Communications

Email: communications@lunaphore.com

Andrea Büchler

Lunaphore Finance and Business Development

Email: andrea.buechler@lunaphore.com

CARTANA

Francesca Bignami

CARTANA Chief Marketing Officer

Email: francesca@cartana.se

Johan Banér, PhD

CARTANA Chief Technology Officer

Email: johan@cartana.se

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