SEATTLE: NanoString Technologies Inc, a leading provider of life science tools for discovery and translational research, announced the availability of new solutions to study the immune response in COVID-19 disease research.

As part of an expanding portfolio of infectious disease research solutions, the nCounter Host Response Gene Expression Panel and COVID -19 Panel Plus spike-in provide a comprehensive analysis of the viral infection and immune response.

New protein and RNA content available on the GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler enable high-plex analysis of key biological pathways mapped to specific regions within infected tissues. Data to be presented at an upcoming LabRoots Coronavirus Virtual Conference on Wednesday, June 17 will demonstrate the application of these new tools in SARS-CoV-2 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples to better understand the processes underlying infection, pathogenesis and therapeutic response.

Rapid and reproducible spatial analysis of clinically relevant tissue samples is challenging due to the fixation processes required to prevent disease transmission and represents a current unmet need in the market. The COVID-19 GeoMx-formatted Antibody Panel, from Abcam, provides a customizable panel which will be run with the GeoMx Immune Profiling Core to enable spatial analysis of 96 proteins involved in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The product was developed to provide optimal results from challenging FFPE tissue samples and is currently available through the GeoMx Technology Access Program.

The GeoMx COVID-19 Immune Response Atlas profiles spatial analysis of over 1,800 genes including receptor, protease, and viral markers associated with COVID-19 disease as well as a broad array of immune markers. Using RNAscope® probes, from Advanced Cell Diagnostics, alongside the GeoMx COVID-19 Immune Response Atlas for visualization, further enables the spatial analysis of cellular and molecular host responses. This product is currently in early access at several key research institutes and is expected to be available later this year.

“An increasing number of recent COVID-19 nCounter publications highlight the benefits of the rapid and reproducible results generated by NanoString’s nCounter and GeoMx platforms for studying the host response to pathogen infection,” said Joe Beechem, CSO and SVP of R&D NanoString Technologies. “The combination of these new products enables the broadest characterization of host response for either bulk or spatial studies and superior performance in clinically relevant samples such as FFPE.”

The nCounter Host Response Gene Expression Panel and COVID-19 Panel Plus spike-in were designed in collaboration with global leaders in infectious disease biology and host-response. The Host Response Gene Expression Panel includes 770 genes focused on host susceptibility, interferon signaling, innate and adaptive immunity as well as other key areas of biology to characterize host response to infection. The COVID-19 Panel Plus spike-in contains probes targeting all SARS-CoV-2 genes as well as the host ACE receptor that is bound by the virus. The new Host Response Panel can be combined with the COVID-19 Panel Plus spike-in or custom content, enabling researchers to characterize the host and viral genes simultaneously.