NEW YORK – Less functionality for less money — that's the latest offer from 10x Genomics with its Chromium Xo, a new instrument launched this month that only runs the firm's latest 3' gene expression assay but has a list price of just $25,000.
Based on the fully fledged Chromium X, launched in 2021, the Xo's onboard software restricts the instrument's assay menu to just the one. However, it's the only assay type that a "significant portion" of 10x's customers use and one that the "vast majority" of new customers start with, according to CSO and Cofounder Ben Hindson. If customers decide they want more options, they can later upgrade, he said, either with an upgrade fee or possibly even a consumables purchase commitment.
"It's a new development in the Chromium series, bringing it to more people and more customers," Hindson said, noting that he sees the name as a nod to shorthand for "kisses and hugs … sort of sharing the love, if you will."
10x is hoping that the lower price will win over researchers who have thought about bringing single-cell RNA-sequencing in-house but haven't yet due to startup costs. The list price of the Xo is less than that of the now-discontinued "legacy" Chromium controllers and several times lower than the list price of the Chromium X. "You can buy a qPCR instrument for your lab now without too many approvals," Hindson added. "This is a price point where you still have to maybe get some approval, but the amount of effort to get it is much lower."
He said the firm did not pursue an early-access program for the Xo, and the instrument is simply available for purchase now. He didn't disclose any instrument placements so far.
Experts on single-cell sequencing from the core lab sector felt that the Xo could see uptake in individual research labs but did not see it as an existential threat to their services.
The Chromium Xo should lower the cost of entry to the single-cell space, according to Anoja Perera, director of sequencing and discovery genomics at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. It will especially help researchers "who do not have a core or do not have direct access to an instrument," she said.
"It is not a nice thing for a core [lab] to see this instrument going out," said Emanuele Palescandolo, director of Johns Hopkins University's single-cell core facility. "But I'm not too worried about a large loss of users. It shouldn't have a catastrophic effect."
The Xo launch also comes as 10x is fending off new commercial offerings of single-cell sequencing methods that don't require an instrument and its associated costs at all, from startups including Parse Biosciences, Scale Biosciences, and recent Illumina acquisition Fluent Biosciences. It must also contend with smaller instruments that offer less throughput, such as Bio-Rad's Genesis Cell Isolation System, acquired through Celsee.
Specifically, the Xo will run the 3' single-cell gene expression assay on 10x's new GEM-X chips, launched earlier this year. These assays enable users to detect more genes and offer a 50 percent reduction in the rate of multiple cells per droplet as well as cell recovery of approximately 80 percent. Running the assay on the Xo is "the same as what the customer who has a Chromium X would experience," Hindson said.
"Typically, the sooner you run things, the better," he added. "You don't have to go across campus, you don't have to send [the sample] somewhere, it doesn't have to get lost by FedEx or whatnot. You can just run your samples there."
Perera and Palescandolo cautioned that many researchers still require help with the part of the workflow that comes before loading cells into a droplet isolator. "You can purchase an instrument, but without proper sample prep, you're stuck," Palescandolo said. "You still might need someone to lead you to the proper sample prep."