NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Life Technologies will distribute Advanced Cell Diagnostics' fluorescent RNAscope portfolio of probes and kits to the research market, the firms said today.
RNAscope is used to identify and validate RNA biomarkers in tissue for research, molecular diagnostics, and companion diagnostics. As more and more biomarkers from microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies are being discovered, Life Tech and ACD said, there is a need for identifying the specific cell types in the tissues that express them.
RNAscope has "exceptional" sensitivity, specificity, and ability to multiplex, and addresses many of the bottlenecks that result from a lack of antibodies, they added. The technology complements NGS and qPCR methods, "by revealing the valuable, morphological context of newly identified biomarkers in both cells and complex tissues."
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"RNAscope complements our existing portfolio and solves long-standing technical hurdles researchers have encountered when studying heterogeneous samples," Siddhartha Kadia, president of Life Sciences at Life Technologies, said in a statement. "RNAscope's ability to provide single-molecule RNA detection, while preserving tissue context, makes it easy to pinpoint which biomarker is expressed in specific cells, all at the convenience of a conventional fluorescence microscope."
ACD is based in Hayward, Calif., and develops cell- and tissue-based research tools for biomedical research, and diagnostic tests for personalized medicine. Last November it raised $12 million in a Series B round.