Pixelgen Technologies Launches First Molecular Pixelation Kit for 3D Spatial Analysis of Cell Surface Proteins

Pixelgen Technologies®, announced the commercial launch of its first kit, based on the company's proprietary Molecular Pixelation (MPX) technology for spatial analyses of immune cell surface proteins in 3D. The Pixelgen Single Cell Spatial Proteomics Kit, Immunology Panel I, Human (Pixelgen SCSP Kit) is the first product to convey spatial polarization and colocalization of proteins on the cell surface at high-multiplex, in 3D, offering new insights into biology in health and disease.

"We are extremely excited to launch the first kit based on our MPX technology, which we believe holds the potential to greatly increase our understanding of cellular activity, leading to advances in basic science, faster and more effective drug discovery and development, and better diagnostics," said Pixelgen Technologies CEO Simon Fredriksson, Ph.D. "MPX takes an entirely new approach to spatial proteomics, uniquely combining high-throughput, high multiplexing, and 3D resolution of cell-surface proteins to offer significant advantages over light-based technologies and single-cell protein assays."

The new kit, which is the first in the company's Immunology family of products, includes commercial protocol, reagents, and free software to perform and analyze Molecular Pixelation in single cells. The workflow is easily completed in any molecular or single-cell biology lab without requiring expensive instrumentation. A next-generation sequencing (NGS) readout is performed on Illumina sequencers. The Pixelgen SCSP Kit will initially feature a panel of 76 protein assays and 4 controls for parallel testing. Pixelgen is evaluating the development of future panels and applications in the fields of immunology and cell biology.

Highlighted features of kit include:

• Highly resolved 3D cell surface protein maps for deep phenotyping of immune cells.
• DNA-tagged monoclonal antibodies for high multiplex analysis of cell surface proteins with validated target specificity
• Single tube, partitioning-free sample preparation, providing spatially resolved abundance data similar to Confocal and Flow Cytometry
• Leverages existing NGS workflow

"I am eager to use MPX in our labs because of the additional dimension it offers, namely to investigate not only the expression of a protein in single cells but also the spatial distribution and colocalizations of proteins in individual cells," said Early Access collaborator Petter Brodin, MD, PhD, Professor at Karolinska Institute and Imperial College London. "We don't yet know what biological insights we will get from this new layer of information, and that's what makes this so exciting."

Cell surface proteins' location and spatial arrangement are closely linked to cell function in health and disease. While significant cell mapping efforts have focused on the gene expression characteristics of single cells, understanding dynamic cell regulation through spatial reorganization of proteins remains largely uncharted. As a result, there are massive gaps in understanding cellular activity.

The Pixelgen SCSP Kit aims to close those gaps by capturing 3D maps of how proteins are spatially organized on the cell surface and in relation to one another. A preprint article was recently published on BioRxiv, highlighting the application of MPX in the study of immune cells, and, using spatial statistics to graph-based data, discovered previously known and novel patterns of protein spatial distribution and colocalization.

Following an over-subscribed beta testing program, Pixelgen will start shipping the kit globally in the September/October timeframe and pre-orders may be placed now.