Precisionary Instruments partners with Agilent to advance live tissue metabolic analysis

Precisionary Instruments has announced a strategic partnership with Agilent to enhance the preparation of live tissue slices for use with the Agilent Seahorse XF Flex Analyzer and 3D Capture Microplate. This collaboration integrates Precisionary’s Compresstome^® VF-510-0Z vibrating microtome into Agilent’s Seahorse XF Flex platform for real-time metabolic analysis, providing researchers with a validated method for generating consistent, high-quality precision-cut slices for ex vivo tissue studies.

As using 3D tissue models—including organoids, explants, and acute brain slices—continues to expand in translational research, reliable upstream sample preparation has become essential. The Compresstome vibratome produces uniform tissue slices with minimal distortion, which is crucial for accurate Agilent Seahorse XF Flex assay measurements of oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR). These metrics are sensitive to tissue integrity, making precision tissue sectioning a critical step in successful assay performance.

“Live tissue analysis is a growing area in metabolic and therapeutic discovery,” said Dr. Abigail Chu, Chief Scientific Officer at Precisionary Instruments. “By pairing our Compresstome vibratome with Agilent’s Seahorse XF Flex platform, scientists now have a streamlined and reproducible workflow for studying energy metabolism in intact tissue samples. This integration supports the development of more physiologically relevant models across neuroscience, liver disease, oncology, and more.”

“Agilent Seahorse XF technology is the gold standard for assessing mitochondrial function and glycolysis in live cells. The new XF Flex instrument expands this capability to 3D models like tissue samples, organoids, spheroids, and model organisms,” said Alice Gao, PhD, a senior product manager in the Cellular and Biomolecular Analysis Division at Agilent. “With Compresstome, we have optimized the XF Flex 3D tissue workflow using rat liver and brain tissue slices. Compresstome is easy to set up and generates consistent, viable XF Flex tissue metabolic assay samples. Precisionary's support, including training videos and tissue sectioning protocols, has been invaluable in developing successful tissue workflows with the Agilent Seahorse XF Flex Analyzer."

Recent Agilent applications and technical notes have highlighted how acute brain slices and liver samples prepared using the Compresstome VF-510-0Z vibratome delivered reproducible, high-quality metabolic data. These precision-cut slices maintained both tissue viability and the geometric fit required for the Agilent Seahorse XF Flex 3D Capture Microplates, reducing signal variability and improving assay sensitivity.

This partnership underscores the importance of integrating high-performance tissue slicing tools with Agilent Seahorse XF Flex cell metabolism platforms. The combined solution supports cutting-edge research in disease modeling, drug screening, and biomarker discovery by enabling scientists to generate healthy, reproducible tissue slices. Precisionary’s vibrating microtome technology ensures upstream consistency in tissue preparation— the foundation for downstream Agilent Seahorse XF Flex success.

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