Three 30-Minute Seminars Offer Insights on IMC in Immuno-Oncology Research

These three selected seminars highlight how immuno-oncology investigations can be done using Imaging Mass Cytometry™ (IMC™). Each seminar is about 30 minutes long and provides a different story for how IMC has been included as a key component in immuno-oncology research.

Read articles that discuss how IMC is used in immuno-oncology research or download the Hyperion Imaging System brochure.

Learn more

Complete the form below to stay up to date on Hyperion Imaging System antibodies, protocols and other developments.

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Fluidigm Products are for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Get informed: three 5-minute immuno-oncology articles

These three selected pieces highlight how immuno-oncology investigations can be done using Imaging Mass Cytometry™ (IMC™). In less than five minutes you can read any one of these articles and learn how IMC can be a key component in immuno-oncology research.

Watch seminars that offer insights on IMC in immuno-oncology research or download the Hyperion Imaging System brochure.

Learn more

Complete the form below to stay up to date on Hyperion Imaging System antibodies, protocols and other developments.

* You may withdraw your consent anytime in every email you will receive from us.
To learn more about how we use your information, read our Privacy Policy.

Fluidigm Products are for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Hyperion Imaging System powers research using Imaging Mass Cytometry

Imaging Mass Cytometry™ performed on the Hyperion™ Imaging System empowers simultaneous imaging of up to 37 protein markers at subcellular resolution. Read stories from customers and learn about the growing Imaging Mass Cytometry community.

Fluidigm Products are for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

What's New on fluidigm.com

We have listened to you and are making improvements to fluidigm.com to help you meet your goals. Here are just a few changes you can see today.

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We have updated our site navigation to make it easier for you to find the information you need. If you can’t find something, please check out our frequently asked questions below.

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Available from the top of the homepage, you can read examples of how researchers are using Fluidigm products and services to uncover new health insights.

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Fluidigm’s Integrated Fluidic Circuit

In the 1970s engineers discovered how the same principles that spawned the semiconductor industry could be applied to liquids in life sciences. Microfluidic devices could incorporate and miniaturize complex fluid-handling steps and enhance the reliability of workflows. Early efforts tried to use silicon to create microfluidic devices based on electro-osmotic flow, but they couldn’t regulate the mixing of fluids without complicated engineering that was difficult to reproduce for high-throughput applications.

In 1998 Stephen Quake, PhD, and his group at the California Institute of Technology developed a fabrication process called Multilayer Soft Lithography (MSL^®) that solved the problem. MSL used a base material of rubber and a series of channels transected by control lines that, when pressurized, deflect to create an effective seal, similar to the effect of stepping on a garden hose. More importantly, the MSL material can be used to make structures so small that tens of thousands can be integrated into a dense network of channels for regulating solutions on a micro-, nano- or even picoliter scale. Christened the Nanoflex™, this elegantly simple valve is the foundation of our IFCs, which enable consistent, accurate, scalable and economical research across a variety of genomics and proteomics applications.

Nanoflex™ Valves

Simple yet efficient design defines the Nanoflex valve, a rubber membrane that deflects under pressure to pinch off the flow of fluids in a microchannel. The valve is made from two separate layers of elastomeric rubber formed in a micro-patterned mold. By bonding the layers together, the recesses form channels and chambers in a rubber chip we call an integrated fluidic circuit, or IFC.

When pressurized liquid flows through the channels in one layer of the chip, the rubber deflects precisely at the intersection of the channels in the bottom layer, creating a simple, effective valve. Although liquid-handling robots have afforded gains in productivity for the life science industry, their value diminishes as the demand for greater throughput grows. Because of their bulk, complexity and cost, robots can’t match the ease, density and cost-effectiveness of IFCs.

Features and Benefits

• Microscopic. Nanoflex valves are so small that a single IFC can accommodate hundreds of thousands of valves, reaction chambers, channels and more.
• Precise. Reaction volumes are controlled by the chambers’ geometry, eliminating the variability associated with liquid-dispensing instruments and delivering high reproducibility rates.
• Versatile. Unlike pre-spotted biochips, IFCs enable researchers to load them in the laboratory with assays, both of their own design and pre-optimized reagents from Fluidigm.
• Clear. IFCs are made of optically clear elastomer, the material once used in contact lenses, enabling reactions to be observed as they occur.
• Gentle. Living cells within IFCs are exposed to a programmable diffusive flow, a more hospitable environment than the wells of microplates.
• Efficient. Experiments on IFCs require hundreds of times less sample and reagent than microplates because IFCs are precisely fabricated in microscopic dimensions with extremely accurate volumetric chambers.
• Gas-permeable. Because the elastomer used to make IFCs is gas-permeable, microscopic gas bubbles can't get trapped in the channels and impact results.

CyTOF^® Mass Cytometry

The Fluidigm CyTOF mass cytometry systems use a novel technological approach to enable single-cell researchers to dissect intracellular networks. Most biochemistry and molecular biology knowledge assumes that the average behavior of cells in a population reflects how all cells in the populations behave. However, this assumption doesn’t appear valid when studying biological systems. Researchers are finding that stochastic fluctuations in gene or protein expression by individual cells in an otherwise identical group can lead to major differences in their behavior.

Developed by Scott Tanner, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Toronto, mass cytometry replaces the fluorophores used in traditional flow cytometry with stable, highly quantitative metal tags that are attached to specific antibodies and quantified using high-resolution mass spectrometry. CyTOF uses stable isotopes not normally found in biological systems to label antibodies and detect and quantify more than 100 different parameters per cell.

Since the 1970s the leading technique for studying and sorting cell populations has been fluorescence-based flow cytometry, which involves passing cells through flow chambers at high rates and using lasers to excite differently colored fluorescent tags attached to different antibodies, enabling researchers to quantify molecules that define cell subtypes or reflect activation of specific pathways. But there’s a problem: spectral overlap between fluorochromes limits the resolution of flow cytometry and the amount of information scientists can collect from each cell. CyTOF technology tags antibodies with different metal isotopes not naturally found in biological systems, thereby eliminating overlap of signals. Plus, more than 100 different parameters can be simultaneously measured, allowing a much higher density of information to be gathered for each cell studied.

CyTOF technology provides a high-resolution proteomic profile of each cell, which distinguishes it from all other cells and reveals the heterogeneity of the sample. This gives a more comprehensive functional and phenotypic characterization of complex systems at the single-cell level, enabling scientists to interrogate rare cells in large populations.

Features and Benefits

• The ability to detect and quantify more than 130 channels simultaneously in a single cell results in exponentially greater information.
• Simultaneous phenotypic and functional assays lead to substantial improvement in the understanding of the heterogeneity of cell states.
• Removing the limitations of spectral overlap of fluorescence and the dysfunction of fluorophores inside cells allows the targeting of more intracellular proteins at a time.
• Multiple pathway nodes can be determined simultaneously in phenotypically resolved populations.
• Full signature identification for each intact cell prevents the need to cross-correlate.
• Barcoding enables multiplexed combinatorial multiparameter screens.
• Achieving a high-resolution proteomic snapshot or profile of each cell distinguishes that cell from all others, revealing the heterogeneity of the sample.
• Comprehensive functional and phenotypic characterization of complex systems can be made at a single-cell level.
• Detailed protein signatures of individual cells can be determined from a single sample.

Chris Linthwaite
President and CEO

Chris Linthwaite has been Chief Executive Officer of Fluidigm since October 2016.

Linthwaite has significant leadership experience across a broad range of life science businesses, including genomics tools, bioprocessing, forensics, agbio, and animal health testing. Prior to joining Fluidigm, Linthwaite served as President of the Genetic Sciences Division at Life Technologies, which was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2014. Linthwaite has extensive experience building successful franchises in both life science research markets and a range of regulated environments. He has spearheaded numerous acquisitions and transformed business performance to drive growth.

Earlier in his career, he was in management consulting at two firms that are now part of PwC, and he co-founded a biomedical organization focused on early-stage technology commercialization. He served on the board of directors of pediatric genetic testing company Claritas Genomics.

As an armor officer in the American military, Linthwaite was stationed in Europe and served with distinction as part of the NATO-led Implementation Force conducting peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He earned an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia as well as a BA in foreign affairs from UVA. Linthwaite served as a White House intern in the Office of Public Liaison and competed at the varsity level with the UVA wrestling team.

Vikram Jog
Chief Financial Officer

Vikram Jog has served as Chief Financial Officer since February 2008. From April 2005 to February 2008, he was Chief Financial Officer for XDx, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company. From March 2003 to April 2005, he was a Vice President of Applera Corporation and Vice President of Finance for its related businesses, Celera Genomics and Celera Diagnostics. From April 2001 to March 2003, he was Vice President of Finance for Celera Diagnostics and Corporate Controller of Applera Corporation. Jog holds a bachelor of commerce degree from Delhi University and an MBA from Temple University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Nick Khadder
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Nick Khadder joined Fluidigm in June 2016 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Prior to that he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Amyris, Inc., a Bay Area biotechnology company. Before joining Amyris, he served in senior counsel roles at LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. and Protiviti Inc. from 2005 to 2010, and as a corporate attorney at Fenwick & West LLP from 1998 to 2005. Khadder received a BA from UC Berkeley and a JD from the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Colin McCracken
Chief Commercial Officer

Colin McCracken has been Chief Commercial Officer of Fluidigm since March 2019. Prior to joining Fluidigm, McCracken was Vice President, Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, EMEA, at Thermo Fisher Scientific. McCracken began his career in the medical devices space, later transitioning to a key account post with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Subsequently, he led major commercial operations in Europe for Invitrogen, Life Technologies and Thermo Fisher Scientific. McCracken is an honors graduate of the electrical and electronic engineering program at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

Angela Peters
Chief Human Resources Officer

Angela Peters is Chief Human Resources Officer for Fluidigm, having joined the company in July 2017. Peters has significant life sciences industry leadership experience in talent, organizational and cultural development. Prior to joining Fluidigm, she held senior human resources roles at such companies as Medivation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Life Technologies. She holds a BS in marketing and management from Notre Dame de Namur University.

Gene expression profiling of the tumor microenvironment has proven effective in measuring immune response during research in cancer progression and therapeutic response. Preconfigured quantitative PCR (qPCR) panels containing hundreds of gene targets represent a potential solution, but can require significant time and resources to implement in the laboratory and can be difficult to customize for specific experimental needs.

The Advanta™ IO Gene Expression Assay workflow was designed to meet this need, detecting 170 gene expression markers involved in checkpoint therapeutic response. Ideal for accelerating the identification of potential predictive biomarker signatures of checkpoint immunotherapeutic response, the Advanta IO Gene Expression Assay was developed in collaboration with leading researchers from academia and biopharma to provide the right balance of biomarker breadth, assay flexibility and workflow efficiency.

As an expanded workflow solution, we now offer an optimized Advanta FFPE RNA Extraction Kit, which produces high-quality RNA from precious tumor samples and improves the sensitivity of tumor transcript detection. As an added benefit, a synthetic template representing the amplification targets of all 170 genes is also available as a positive control. When using this new kit and control together with the Advanta IO Gene Expression Assay on the Biomark™ HD system, researchers can accurately assess 24 to 96 tumor samples at a time with high confidence and efficiency.

Completing the workflow, the GO Immuno-Oncology Workbench was developed by GenomOncology to provide powerful, flexible and intuitive analysis of immuno-oncology datasets. Now available from Fluidigm, the GO Immuno-Oncology Workbench enables researchers to unlock new clinical insights from translational immuno-oncology studies, including the identification of meaningful gene expression biomarkers that correlate with therapeutic response.

“The GO Immuno-Oncology Workbench is a powerful software tool that enables comprehensive analysis of immuno-oncology cohorts, integrating molecular and phenotypic data together with immuno-oncology-specific annotations to power translational studies,” said Manuel Glynias, CEO of GenomOncology. “We are excited to see the new insights uncovered using this comprehensive approach, which we we offer in conjunction with Fluidigm to empower the growing immuno-oncology community.”

“Fluidigm is the partner of choice within the immuno-oncology research community, enabling deep interrogation of the tumor microenvironment and immune response with mass cytometry,” said Chris Linthwaite, President and CEO of Fluidigm. “In partnership with GenomOncology, we are expanding our immuno-oncology gene expression offering to the cancer community with a full microfluidics-based workflow solution from RNA extraction to data analysis. By providing a comprehensive view of tumor immunity, utilizing microfluidics and mass cytometry technologies, we are empowering researchers to uncover unique health insights that could transform the future of cancer care.”      

Improving the process

Download our product flyer to learn more about using the Advanta FFPE RNA Extraction Kit to accelerate your investigative research.

The Advanta FFPE RNA Extraction Kit stands apart from other commercial kits by providing:

• A single-tube extraction purification process
• Enhanced safety with xylene-free paraffin removal
• More precious samples are qualified for downstream analysis
• Improved detection during gene expression analysis

Sirona Dx case study

Clinical research services provider Sirona Dx, Inc., based in Vancouver, Washington, performed gene expression analysis of FFPE samples extracted using the Advanta FFPE RNA Extraction Kit and a leading column-based commercial kit. After extraction, the group reverse-transcribed and preamplified the RNA and analyzed the cDNA on Biomark HD using the Advanta IO Gene Expression Assay panel containing 170 unique biomarkers for profiling tumor immunobiology and identification. Gene expression analysis data demonstrated more target gene detection in samples extracted using the Advanta FFPE RNA Extraction Kit. These samples typically showed lower cycle threshold values than those extracted using the alternative kit.

“Sirona Dx specializes in expression profiling of challenging FFPE samples and we welcomed the opportunity to partner with Fluidigm to develop an improved RNA extraction methodology,” said Sirona Dx CEO Nasry Yassa. “To date we have processed several hundred samples with the Advanta FFPE RNA Extraction Kit, and our pharma clients have been astonished by the quality of RNA extracted and delighted at our ability to interrogate more of their precious FFPE samples­.”

Contact us to learn more about the Advanta FFPE RNA Extraction Kit.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.