NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Canopy Biosciences announced today that it has acquired German cytometry startup Zellkraftwerk as part of its plans to build a wider product and service offering.
According to Canopy, the acquisition creates a "unique multi-omics" company that offers "a powerful union of genomic expertise with cutting-edge cell and tissue analysis solutions" to further help "drug development research and biomarker discovery."
Zellkraftwerk's ChipCytometry microfluidic platform includes products and research services for high-content cytometry on cells and tissues. The tool immobilizes cells in microfluidic chips, which are later stained with antibodies for multiplex biomarker detection.
In addition to the acquisition, Canopy Bio also closed a growth investment from Ampersand Capital Partners.
"Ampersand's expertise and resources will benefit Canopy as we build a broader product and service offering for our customers, and the Zellkraftwerk acquisition provides a meaningful contribution to this strategy," Canopy Cofounder and CEO Edward Weinstein said in a statement.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"As the scientific community continues to appreciate the roles and relationships between genotypes, phenotypes, and the environment, the need for 'multi-omic' approaches to biomarker discovery and functional biology research has never been clearer," Zellkraftwerk Cofounder Jan Detmers said in a statement. "We are excited to partner with Canopy Biosciences and Ampersand to enhance our capabilities, scale, and geographic reach in the US, Europe, and Asia as we strive to best serve the evolving needs of our customers."
Earlier this month, Canopy launched its RareSeq error-corrected sequencing service, which removes errors generated during next-generation sequencing to separate rare mutations from background noise.