Almost a 12 months after increasing from single cell omics options into spatial biology, Takara Bio USA has launched a collection of updates to its product portfolio designed to convey its new class of spatial expertise to extra researchers.
Takara Bio USA has expanded its instrument-free Trekker™ Single-Cell Spatial Mapping Kits for compatibility with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples. By making its Trekker kits appropriate with the generally used archival pattern sort, Takara goals to broaden use of its expertise by making spatial single-cell evaluation extra accessible to a greater diversity of researchers.
“FFPE compatibility is absolutely an essential facet of spatial biology,” Andrew Farmer, PhD, chief scientific officer of Takara Bio USA, informed GEN. “That’s going to be fairly transformative, as a result of simply being able to entry all these archived samples, you can begin to consider doing cohort-type research, a number of samples over time, resulting from the truth that these may be saved. It actually opens up loads of analysis.”
In a examine revealed in January, researchers estimated that a couple of billion FFPE blocks are saved in hospitals and tissue banks worldwide.
“They’re the workhorse for scientific discovery and evaluation, so unlocking these samples for spatial evaluation, I believe, could be very key,” Farmer stated. “Trekker FX will permit that, and I believe importantly, offers you a sensitivity that no one’s seen earlier than in a spatial assay, as a result of will probably be a local single-cell assay however coming from FFPE blocks, so I believe that’s going to be very, very highly effective.”
The Trekker kits have additionally been enhanced for compatibility with extra analysis workflows and third-party instrument methods, together with the single-cell library prep platforms of 10x Genomics, BD Biosciences, Illumina, and Parse Biosciences.
“I believe that truly underlies one thing about us: We’re a really collaborative firm. We’ve all the time been an organization that wishes to work with others,” Farmer stated.
The expanded Trekker incorporates extra purposes and integrations meant to help new analysis, with the intention of advancing a platform-agnostic strategy designed to ship true single-cell spatial decision with deeper organic insights from multiomics experiments. The improved Trekker expertise is designed to combine seamlessly into current workflows, offering a simplified manner so as to add a spatial dimension to single-cell analysis.
Trekker kits are additionally now out there as an end-to-end spatial biology resolution that mixes spatial omics with epigenetics and immune profiling, together with a mixed epigenetic and RNA-seq readout.
To help its increasing pipeline of purposes, Takara Bio USA can be introducing an enhanced, end-to-end bioinformatics software program resolution, with technical help supplied by way of devoted subject software scientists and a technical help crew created to assist researchers utilizing open-source software program instruments to optimize downstream evaluation.
Primarily based in San Jose, CA, Takara Bio USA manufactures and distributes life sciences kits, reagents, and devices—together with NGS, PCR, gene supply, genome enhancing, stem cell analysis, nucleic acid and protein purification, and automatic pattern preparation.
Takara Bio USA has additionally expanded its R&D crew targeted on spatial biology, integrating its spatial crew primarily based in Palo Alto, CA into its San Jose, CA amenities. The corporate has additionally moved all manufacturing of its Trekker and Seeker spatial biology options to the manufacturing amenities of guardian Takara Bio, a transfer the corporate says will supply it the capability to satisfy rising international demand by scaling manufacturing.
Takara Bio USA is a single-cell RNA-seq chief, having launched the primary commercially out there kits for single-cell RNA in 2011 adopted three years later by the launch of its first DNA sequencing-related equipment, the DNA SMART ChIP-Seq Package.
In 2021, the corporate launched its SMART-Seq Professional equipment for the ICELL8 cx Single-Cell System, an automatic single-cell RNA-seq resolution enabling researchers to generate full-length transcriptome information from greater than 1,500 single cells concurrently, in addition to from a variety of pattern sorts going as giant as grownup cardiomyocytes.
Takara Bio USA moved past single cell into spatial biology in January when it acquired spatial genomics pioneer Curio Bioscience for an undisclosed value. The deal created a mixed firm that added to Takara’s portfolio of single-cell genomics instruments with Curio’s two spatial biology platforms, Trekker and Seeker Spatial Transcriptomics Package, designed to allow entire transcriptome, spatial mapping of recent frozen tissues at what the corporate calls industry-leading decision.
“Takara Bio is offering researchers with a brand new technique to strategy spatial biology—sooner, simpler, less expensive, and with richer multiomic insights,” Farmer added.
Takara Bio USA plans to current its latest choices at subsequent week’s American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Assembly, to be held October 14–18 in Boston. At ASHG, Farmer will ship a CoLab Session discuss titled “A brand new class of spatial expertise—purchase spatial and single-cell information in a single experiment” on October 16 from 12:45 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. in Theater 1.
Farmer’s historical past with Takara Bio USA stretches again to 1998 when he joined what was Clontech Laboratories. A 12 months later, Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD) acquired the corporate for about $200 million. BD offered Clontech in 2005 for $60 million to Takara Bio, which turned the corporate into a completely owned U.S. subsidiary that in 2016 was renamed Takara Bio USA.
“As we rejoice Takara Bio USA’s twentieth anniversary, we mark an essential milestone in our historical past as a trusted companion to researchers worldwide,” stated Carol Lou, president and CEO of Takara Bio USA.
Takara Bio USA is a supplier of life science analysis options that vary from enzymes and GMP-grade reagents to contracted cell and gene remedy manufacturing providers. Primarily based in Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan, Takara is the primary firm in Asia to begin growing PCR enzymes and restriction enzymes.
Takara Bio completed its fiscal 12 months ending March 31 with ¥2.263 billion ($15.043 million) in working revenue, down almost 25% from ¥3.003 billion ($19.961 million) in FY 2024, regardless of a 3.5% enhance in web gross sales to ¥45.039 billion ($299.379 million) from ¥43.505 billion ($289.182). For the primary quarter of its present fiscal 12 months, Takara completed with an working lack of ¥1.796 billion ($11.939 million), in contrast with a ¥1.634 billion ($10.862 million) working loss within the year-ago quarter, at the same time as web gross sales climbed 9 p.c year-over-year to ¥9.266 billion ($61.601 million) from ¥8.493 billion ($56.462 million).
Takara Bio USA can be a pioneer in retroviral gene supply, having joined with its guardian to convey to market in 2013 the scientific grade RetroNectin reagent, designed to reinforce lentiviral- and retroviral-mediated gene transduction by aiding the colocalization of goal cells and viral particles.
RetroNectin has been utilized in greater than 68 protocols for gene remedy scientific trials at 44 establishments worldwide and has been cited in 2,810 peer-reviewed papers and reprints since 2021, in response to PubMed.
Different industrial retroviral kits delivered to market by Takara Bio USA embody the Retro-X Common Packaging System for producing pseudotyped retroviruses, and the Retro-X Tet-Specific Inducible Expression System for managed gene expression.
“With our new class of spatial expertise complementing our single-cell platforms, and continued funding to make spatial biology accessible to extra labs, Takara Bio USA is positioned on the forefront of revolutionizing single-cell spatial biology for de novo discovery,” Lou added.
