Vizgen® to Advance Cell Atlases with New Volumetric Tissue Mapping Spatial Data and Services at HCA 2026 Meeting

Company plans to showcase new volumetric MERFISH datasets in mouse brain and human neurodegenerative brain tissue, generated on the existing MERSCOPE Ultra™ Platform

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vizgen, Inc., a leader in spatial multiomics and developer of the MERSCOPE Ultra™ Platform, today announced it will debut a 3D Volumetric Tissue Mapping dataset in neurodegenerative brain tissue using MERFISH 2.0™ chemistry on the MERSCOPE Ultra Platform at the Human Cell Atlas (HCA) General Meeting, June 16-18, in Boston. The company will also launch Volumetric Tissue Mapping services and a new Cell Atlasing Hub, a central resource for the cell atlasing community offering public datasets, case studies, and expert consultation.

The HCA General Meeting convenes the global cell atlasing community at a pivotal moment, as the field works to translate foundational atlases into deeper biological and disease insight. Vizgen is introducing Volumetric Tissue Mapping now to give that community a path to add the third dimension to their work, capturing the cellular context, tissue architecture, and disease microenvironments that cell atlasing depends on but that thin-section approaches cannot resolve.

The shift to three-dimensional volumetric analysis addresses a fundamental limitation of conventional spatial biology. Cell neighborhoods, vasculature, immune infiltration, and disease microenvironments do not flatten into a single plane, and a thin section captures only a fraction of the biology present. Volumetric Tissue Mapping captures the three dimensions of thick tissue, preserving the spatial context that traditional approaches lose.

To demonstrate the capability, Vizgen will showcase volumetric MERFISH datasets in mouse brain and human neurodegenerative brain tissue, the latter paired with an amyloid beta (a protein marker associated with Alzheimer's disease) to demonstrate multi-omic readout in a disease context. Extension into human cancer tissue is underway. The datasets are intended to enable researchers to create spatial datasets with new depth and dimensionality.

“No biological tissue is two-dimensional. Measuring a thin tissue slice only gives a glimpse of the way cells are arranged and interacting within the tissue,” said George Emanuel, PhD, Co-founder & VP of Instruments at Vizgen. "We’re building Volumetric Tissue Mapping on MERSCOPE Ultra to give researchers a more efficient way to measure native biology. We’re excited to partner with research groups to generate volumetric spatial transcriptomics data through data generation services now and enabling measurements in their own labs on MERSCOPE Ultra soon. This will expedite cell atlasing, biological understanding, and drug development.”

Vizgen’s MERFISH 2.0 chemistry, powering the MERSCOPE Ultra™ platform, generates volumetric datasets that resolve cell neighborhoods, tissue architecture, rare cell populations, and disease pathology in the same experiment, without compromising sensitivity or specificity. Through Vizgen Lab Services, the company now offers project-based access to Volumetric Tissue Mapping, enabling researchers to generate MERFISH data without extra overhead.

Volumetric Tissue Mapping combines imaging depth to resolve biology in the third dimension, the sensitivity and specificity to detect rare cell populations, panel flexibility to move from hypothesis to data, and multi-omic readouts with robust segmentation, marking the transition from thin-section analysis to volumetric data from thick tissue.

Webinar
Vizgen will host a cell atlasing webinar, "Mapping of the Brain: Spatial Profiling for Deeper Insights into Neurological Disease Mechanisms," on June 9, 2026 at 11 AM EDT, featuring Dr. Ioannis Mantas and Dr. Manisha Ray. The session will demonstrate how MERFISH 2.0 chemistry and pre-designed panels enable single-cell resolution cell atlasing of the mouse brain. To register, click here.

Vizgen’s Cell Atlasing Hub
The new Vizgen Cell Atlasing Hub offers downloadable datasets, panel information, case studies and direct access to Vizgen spatial biology experts. To access this new hub, click here.

About Vizgen^®
Vizgen is at the forefront of spatial biology and multi-omics innovation. Co-founded by leaders in single-cell and spatial genomics, including professors Xiaowei Zhuang, PhD, Jeffrey Moffitt, PhD, and David Walt, PhD, Vizgen builds technologies that equip researchers for discovery in foundational biology and human disease. These include its pioneering MERFISH 2.0™ chemistry and MERSCOPE Ultra™ Platform for in situ single-cell spatial genomics. MERFISH 2.0 is for research use only. Vizgen is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with R&D and lab services operations in nearby Cambridge. For more information, visit www.vizgen.com or connect on social media X, LinkedIn and Facebook.