NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Labcyte and the University of Helsinki's Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) said today they have expanded their existing personalized medicine partnership to include multiple new applications based on Labcyte's liquid handling and automation platforms.
Specifically, Labcyte and FIMM will now cooperate on cell-based assay development and screening, developing advanced cell models, and integrating Labcyte's Echo liquid handler into FIMM's genomics program as part of the institute's single-cell genomics and population genetics workflows.
FIMM Research Director Janna Saarela said in a statement that the institute has "greatly benefitted" from using Labcyte's acoustic liquid handling technology, and called the collaboration "essential for the successful drug sensitivity testing assays" that FIMM has set up. "Now we aim to expand the use of Labcyte's equipment to our genomic workflows, enabling us to miniaturize assays, make complex liquid handling processes simple, and explore the use of acoustic liquid handling for biobanked DNA samples," Saarela added.
San Jose, California-based Labcyte and FIMM first partnered in 2013, and extended that initial agreement in 2015. The focus of their collaboration has been on developing new strategies for cancer treatment based on functional cell screening.