Seattle startup RareCyte raises $24 million to advance a new high-speed cell imaging platform
Different immune cells imaged on tonsil slices on the RareCyte Orion platform. The different cell types are green, red and white, and the nucleus is blue. (RareCyte image)
Seattle startups Rare cells Announce $24 million in new funding Promoting its application in cell analysis on Thursday.
RareCyte sells imaging-based liquid and tissue biopsy analysis platforms for the detection and analysis of cells.
The company's products are mainly for clinical and translational researchers in academia and biopharmaceutical companies. The company sells kits for preparing samples from blood or tissues and instruments for optically measuring cells. Their products are designed to achieve automation and high-volume sampling.
The new funding will promote the commercialization and development of its new Orion cell imaging and analysis platform launched last year, and expand its other products to the global market.
Orion instrument high-speed imaging of pathological sections, detecting various molecular markers on cells labeled with fluorescent probes. The instrument has 21 detection channels, each of which can pick up a different fluorescence channel, so that a large number of markers can be detected at the same time.
The Orion system can generate a large amount of information about biological samples in a short period of time.
"The combination of the new Orion space biology platform and the existing RareCyte precision biology solutions will provide researchers and clinicians with important new capabilities to advance key application areas such as immuno-oncology," the intersection of immunology and cancer research , Robert Weisskoff says A statementWeisskoff is a partner of F-Prime Capital, a supporter of the new funds, and has joined the company's board of directors.
For example, knowing which immune molecules are present on cells and in what proportions can help researchers understand the body's response to tumors. The platform can also help advance the discovery of molecules that predict how diseases such as cancer will develop.
Joe Victor, CEO of RareCyte. (5AM Ventures photo)
"In the field of precision medicine, researchers and clinicians have a large unmet need to detect their precious samples to obtain high multiplicity of information, but the existing technology may take more than a week to process a sample," said CEO Joe Victor.A sort of statement When the new platform was announced last year, "we believe that Orion, which has the capability of a single scan of a 21-channel full slide in just a few hours, will have a significant impact in this critical area."
With the advancement of optics, molecular technology and software analysis, RareCyte is one of several companies expanding into the field of "space biology" Push the field forwardOther companies in the region include Seattle-based NanoString Technologies, which sells its GeoMx digital spatial profiler system, which can analyze numerous molecules in a sample to assess the activity of proteins or DNA in cells.
RareCyte also produces a variety of products for researchers to detect and analyze circulating tumor cells-cancer cells circulating in the blood. Analyzing such cells can provide information about how tumors develop, although long-term efforts in the field to develop diagnostic methods based on such cells are still ongoing.
RareCyte was spun off from Applied Precision in 2011, shortly before General Electric acquired a Seattle-area company that specializes in providing advanced high-resolution and super-resolution imaging platforms for biological samples.The company's total investment exceeds US$100 million, including US$30 million in financing and USD 22 million in 2019.
In addition to F-Prime Capital, other new investors include Logos Capital, Agilent Technologies, and Arboretum Ventures, which led the round of financing. Existing investors participating in the new financing include HealthQuest Capital, 5AM Ventures, and RareCyte founder Ron Seubert, who served as CEO before Victor took over in 2017.
RareCyte operates from a 22,000 square foot facility in downtown Seattle.