NEW YORK – Spatial biology firm Vizgen recently launched an updated chemistry for its spatial transcriptomics product line that promises better performance with low-quality samples.

纽约——空间生物学公司Vizgen近日推出了其空间转录组学产品线的更新化学技术，承诺在处理低质量样本时提供更佳性能。

The MERFISH (multiplexed, error-robust fluorescence

MERFISH（多重、抗误差的荧光

in situ

原位

hybridization) 2.0 chemistry offers better detection of fragmented and other lower-quality RNAs. 'The impact of this is to open up a new group of sample types,' including clinical samples, said Jiang He, Vizgen cofounder and VP of R&D.

杂交）2.0 化学技术能够更好地检测片段化和其他较低质量的 RNA。“这方面的影响是开辟了一组新的样本类型，”Vizgen 联合创始人兼研发副总裁江何表示，其中包括临床样本。

Sensitivity is up to eightfold higher than before, which means fewer cells drop out in single-cell analyses because transcript counts are higher, He said.

灵敏度比以前高出八倍，这意味着在单细胞分析中，由于转录本计数更高，丢失的细胞更少，He说。

The new chemistry is both more 'robust' and 'consistent' for human formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, according to Christoph Kuppe, a researcher at Germany's RWTH Aachen University and an early-access user of the new chemistry. 'Now we get double the transcript counts and, in some samples, even more.'.

根据德国RWTH亚琛大学的研究员克里斯托夫·库佩的说法，这种新化学技术对于人类福尔马林固定石蜡包埋（FFPE）样本而言，不仅更加“稳健”，而且“一致”。他说：“现在我们获得的转录本数量是原来的两倍，甚至在某些样本中更多。”

Others have seen even higher gains. Mathieu Bourdenx, a researcher at University College London, for example, said the new chemistry has increased the number of transcripts he can detect by 10-fold.

其他人则获得了更高的收益。例如，伦敦大学学院的研究员马修·布尔德尼克斯表示，这种新化学方法使他能够检测到的转录本数量增加了10倍。

In Kuppe's lab, the initial chemistry produced high-quality data from high-quality samples but struggled to sustain that when the input quality dropped, he said. 'It was a little trickier to find the right sample for the technology so that you got really high-quality data,' he said.

库佩的实验室最初的化学反应从高质量样本中产生了高质量的数据，但当输入质量下降时，就难以维持了。他说：“要为这项技术找到合适的样本有点棘手，这样才能获得非常高质量的数据。”

The product enhancements come in the wake of great change at Vizgen. The Harvard University spinout

这些产品改进是在Vizgen发生重大变革之后推出的。这家哈佛大学的衍生公司

merged

合并

with Ultivue last October and

去年十月与 Ultivue 公司合作，

settled

已解决

an

一个

intense

强烈

, global patent fight with 10x Genomics in February of this year.

今年 2 月与 10x Genomics 的全球专利大战。

Vizgen CEO Rob Carson declined to comment about the specifics of the settlement but said 'all of that is behind us.'

Vizgen 首席执行官罗布·卡尔森 (Rob Carson) 拒绝对和解的具体细节发表评论，但表示“所有这些都已成为过去。”

Vizgen's Merscope assays have always been able to work with FFPE samples, Carson noted; however, the new chemistry has improved the anchoring of RNA molecules, making them less likely to diffuse, as well as the probe design, 'unlocking a new level of performance,' he said.

卡森指出，Vizgen的Merscope检测一直能够处理FFPE样本；然而，新的化学方法改进了RNA分子的锚定，使它们更不容易扩散，同时优化了探针设计，“解锁了性能的新水平”。

'The MERFISH 2.0 chemistry has allowed us to perform MERFISH on samples that we could not previously use for this assay,' Christina Baer, a researcher at UMass Chan Medical School, said in an email. Sample types unlocked by the new chemistry include

“MERFISH 2.0 化学技术使我们能够在以前无法用于该检测的样本上进行 MERFISH，”麻省大学陈医学院的研究员克里斯蒂娜·贝尔在一封电子邮件中说道。新化学技术解锁的样本类型包括

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

结核分枝杆菌

-infected mouse lung samples and 20-year-old human muscle biopsy samples. 'We are getting extremely high-quality data with transcript counts in the 100 million to 200 million per sample range, exceeding what we were able to obtain with the previous chemistry,' she said.

感染的小鼠肺样本和20年的人类肌肉活检样本。 “我们正在获得极高质量的数据，每个样本的转录本计数在1亿到2亿之间，超过了我们之前化学方法所能获得的数据，”她说道。

However, there is still room for improvement. 'We'd like to see better multiomics integration with expanded validated protein assay offerings from Vizgen,' Baer said, adding that she hopes the firm's merger with Ultivue will spur such development.

然而，仍有改进的空间。贝尔表示：“我们希望看到更好的多组学整合，并且希望Vizgen能够推出更多经过验证的蛋白质检测产品。”她补充说，她希望该公司与Ultivue的合并将推动这样的发展。

Better RNA detection could help with that, Kuppe suggested, especially with protein co-staining. His lab has used some bovine serum albumin-free antibodies to do protein co-staining, which have fewer RNA-degrading enzymes but cost more. 'If the chemistry is more stable, we would still use BSA-free antibodies but would have a better feeling about adding more of them,' he said..

库佩建议，更好的RNA检测可能会对此有所帮助，尤其是在蛋白质共染色方面。他的实验室使用了一些不含牛血清白蛋白的抗体进行蛋白质共染色，这些抗体含有的RNA降解酶较少，但成本更高。他说：“如果化学性质更稳定，我们仍然会使用不含BSA的抗体，但会更有信心增加它们的用量。”

Vizgen has indeed embarked on multiomics. In a poster at this month's American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, the company presented data obtained from serial sections, one analyzed with Merscope and the other with the firm's InSituPlex spatial proteomics product. However, Carson noted that Vizgen has not integrated the two products onto the same platform yet..

Vizgen确实已经开始了多组学研究。在本月的美国癌症研究协会年会上，该公司发布了一张海报，展示了从连续切片中获得的数据，其中一个切片使用Merscope分析，另一个使用该公司的InSituPlex空间蛋白质组学产品进行分析。然而，Carson指出，Vizgen尚未将这两种产品整合到同一平台。

Future improvements include higher-plex protein detection capabilities for Merscope, he added.

他补充说，未来改进的地方包括提升Merscope的高通量蛋白质检测能力。