Vizgen Kicks Off AGBT with Enhanced MERFISH Chemistry Updates and 2024 Product Roadmap Highlights

– Enhanced MERFISH chemistry to extend Vizgen’s best-in-class sensitivity to detect even more from degraded RNA –

– Recent study highlights MERSCOPE^® as top performer in sensitivity among six spatial transcriptomics technologies –

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vizgen, Inc., the life science company dedicated to improving human health by visualizing single-cell spatial genomics information, has unveiled enhanced MERFISH chemistry along with its 2024 product roadmap. In addition to the announcement of these product developments, Vizgen will be presenting three posters at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) 2024 General Meeting, in Orlando, Florida, this week.

The enhanced MERFISH chemistry will extend the best-in-class sensitivity of MERFISH to degraded RNA samples, including archival FFPE samples, enabling translational research. Data demonstrating this superior detection capacity is expected to be released in the coming months, with plans to make the enhanced MERFISH chemistry available to users in the summer of 2024.

Vizgen’s high sensitivity was recently emphasized in a recent study conducted by the New York Genome Center. The study, “Comparative analysis of multiplexed in situ gene expression profiling technologies,” published on bioRxiv found that Vizgen’s MERSCOPE^® Platform has the best performance in a comparison of six spatial transcriptomics technologies, including the highest sensitivity as well as excellent specificity and accuracy in cell segmentation.

In addition at AGBT, Vizgen announced that customers are now able to design custom panels capable of characterizing the expression of nearly 1,000 genes in the Vizgen Gene Panel Portal. This feature, showcased in the poster presentation, “Unveiling Brain Complexity with the MERSCOPE^® Platform: Insights into Health and Diseased States,” doubles MERFISH multiplexing capacity while maintaining the best-in-class sensitivity of MERFISH, making it possible to discover novel biology. Vizgen's software updates through 2024 will continue to build on its cutting-edge cell segmentation and analysis tools. Focusing on providing updated software with advanced data management and analysis tools that lower the barrier of entry, the updates will enable biologists to manage and visualize massively complex datasets.

“Between our partnership with ScaleBio, the upcoming launch of our enhanced MERFISH chemistry and recognition as the top performer in the New York Genome Center’s independent study of six spatial transcriptomics technologies, Vizgen is kicking off 2024 with exciting momentum,” said Terry Lo, President and CEO of Vizgen. “Looking ahead, Vizgen is poised to continue operating at the forefront of innovation – pushing the boundaries of what is possible in spatial genomics and empowering breakthrough biological discoveries needed to improve human health.”

AGBT Poster Presentation Details

Title: Unveiling Brain Complexity with the MERSCOPE^® Platform: Insights into Health and Diseased States
Presenter: Jiang He, Scientific Co-founder, Senior Director of Scientific Affairs
Poster Number: 588
Time: Tuesday, February 6, 1:30 – 3:30 pm ET

Title: Identifying cancer neighborhoods and cancer-associated fibroblasts in prostate cancer using MERFISH
Presenter: Jiang He, Scientific Co-founder, Senior Director of Scientific Affairs
Poster Number: 133
Time: Wednesday, February 7, 4:45 – 6:10 pm ET

Title: Spatial profiling of neuronal microenvironment during neurodegeneration
Presenter: George Emanuel, Scientific Co-founder, Senior Director of Technology & Partnerships at Vizgen
Poster Number: 637
Time: Wednesday, February 7, 4:45 – 6:10 pm ET

In addition to the poster presentations, Vizgen will sponsor a Women’s Networking Event on Tuesday, February 6 from 5:15 – 7:15 pm ET at the Sunset Terrace of the Caribe Royale. Featured speaker Kathleen Rubins, a renowned astronaut known for her achievements in space exploration and groundbreaking research, will share her insights on “Breaking Glass Ceilings.”

About Vizgen^®

Vizgen is dedicated to pioneering the next generation of genomics, providing tools that demonstrate the possibilities of in situ single-cell spatial genomics. The company has established the benchmark in spatial genomics and continues to drive industry innovation, delivering the highest sensitivity as well as excellent specificity and accuracy in cell segmentation. These tools enable researchers to gain new insight into the biological systems that govern human health and disease with spatial context. Vizgen’s MERSCOPE^® Platform enables massively multiplexed, genome-scale nucleic acid imaging with high accuracy and unrivaled detection efficiency at subcellular resolution. MERSCOPE^® provides transformative insight into a wide range of tissue-scale basic research and translational medicine in oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious disease, developmental biology, cell and gene therapy, and is an essential tool for accelerating drug discovery and development. For more information, go to www.vizgen.com. Connect on social media Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.