NEW YORK (360Dx) – In situ biological imaging firm Ultivue said late Tuesday that it closed its $20 million Series B financing round.
The funding will go toward further development and commercialization of its InSituPlex technology for unbiased biomarker analysis in tissue. Initial commercialization of the technology will be directed at the translational and clinical research space "with a rapid transition into regulated in vitro diagnostics markets."
According to the company's website, InSituPlex allows researchers to localize high numbers of protein biomarkers from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue slides. Antibodies of interest are conjugated to a specific DNA barcode, and the conjugates stain the proteins of interest in one staining step. DNA labels that are complementary to the antibodies' DNA barcodes are attached to a fluorophore, and each fluorescent label is introduced in the sample to bind and image a target. They are then dehybridized to remove the fluorescence signal from the sample.
Multiplexing in situ is carried out by multiple cycles of hybridization, imaging, and dehybridization. After image collection, the resulting images are digitally overlayed for visualization of the biomarkers of interest.
The Series B round was led by existing investor ARCH Venture Partners. New investors 6 Dimensions Capital, Yonghua Capital, Sangel Capital, and Applied Ventures also participated in the round.
"The launch of our first products later this year will comprise the first step of our long-term goal: to offer industry-leading diagnostic products that favorably impact patient care," Ultivue CEO Michael Natan said in a statement.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ultivue completed its Series A financing round in late 2015 that raised $5.15 million. Last November, it launched the InSituPlex Services for the interrogation of protein biomarker expression patterns in tissue.