10x Genomics launches next-generation immune profiling product to combat COVID-19

10x Genomics has strengthened the research toolkit of scientists around the globe with the launch of its Chromium Single Cell Immune Profiling v2 product. The new product extends the capabilities of the original version, supporting fundamental breakthroughs in immunology, oncology, autoimmunity, inflammation, transplant biology, and infectious diseases. It also significantly builds on the existing product that is being used by researchers to understand COVID-19 to advance science for the development of vaccines, antiviral drugs and clinical treatments related to the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.

The new Chromium Single Cell Immune Profiling v2 product provides a comprehensive approach to simultaneously examine cellular heterogeneity of the immune system, T and B cell repertoire diversity, and antigen specificity at single cell resolution. Researchers can profile thousands of genes and hundreds of cell surface proteins, cell by cell and at scale, with enhanced sensitivity, resolution, and sequencing quality. The latest product offers up to a 60 percent increase in gene detection sensitivity, allowing users greater flexibility in reducing sequencing costs without a loss in gene diversity or accessing rare gene transcripts without an increase in cost.

Using the Chromium Single Cell Immune Profiling v2 product, researchers can:

• Characterize adaptive and innate immune cell diversity
• Identify and characterize rare cell types and biomarkers
• Analyze tissue microenvironment, disease progression, and drug immune response
• Perform large-scale antibody and TCR discovery for novel antigens
• Characterize immune responses to infection by measuring clonal expansions and immune cell phenotypes
• Focus on relevant genes and pathways with predesigned gene expression panels for immunology, oncology, and drug discovery, or design a fully custom panel

“With the number of coronavirus cases expected to reach 100,000 a day in the US alone, it is critical that we get the right products into the hands of scientists as soon as possible,” said Ben Hindson, co-founder and chief scientific officer of 10x Genomics. “Our new product adds a powerful tool to our customers’ arsenal for combating COVID-19 and other deadly diseases, and is a testimony to our very rich product pipeline.”

10x Genomics has supported more than 300 customers in academic, governmental, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical organizations around the world who are working to understand SARS-CoV-2 and manage COVID-19. These include Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the Charite Hospital Berlin, Singapore-based Proteona, and the Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center (BIOPIC) at Peking University. Many 10x Genomics customers have placed the Chromium Controller instrument into biosafety level 2+ and 3 facilities, where its products can be used to support research on acutely infected patient or animal model samples.

Over a dozen peer-reviewed papers have been published that feature the use of 10x Genomics Chromium Single Cell Immune Profiling product in COVID-19 research, including studies to better understand the precise cells in which organs and tissues could become infected (Nature Medicine); immune system responses to COVID-19 infection across patients with varying severities of disease (Nature Cell Discovery, Nature Medicine); and ways neutralizing antibodies could be used to effectively block virus entry into host cells (Cell).

The Chromium Single Cell Immune Profiling v2 product is available for pre-order and is expected to ship at the end of the month.

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