Mission Bio Launches Automated Cloud Tool for DNA Panels

On March 7, 2019, Mission Bio, a company specializing in single-cell DNA analysis and precision genomics, announced the launch of Tapestri Designer, an automated, cloud-based tool for designing targeted single-cell DNA custom panels. The easy to use, self-service interface reduces design time for custom panels from weeks to just minutes, the company reports. This allows the platform to create a customizable single-cell DNA targeted solution for high-impact applications. The launch of the product is the first in a larger effort by Mission Bio to incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms into the Tapestri Platform.

The company also announced that it is expanding into Europe, with regional sales and partnerships with three key research institutions: VIB, a research institute in Flanders, Belgium; the Cancer Research Center of Toulouse, which has one of the largest biobanks of cancer samples in France; and Saint-Louis Hospital, a hematology teaching hospital in Paris, France.

Studying genomic heterogeneity at the single-cell level can benefit from customization that offers the flexibility to target relevant regions of interest. Maximizing data quality for those regions can optimize sequencing budgets and analysis time. With Tapestri Single-Cell DNA Targeted Custom Panels, researchers and clinicians have the flexibility to focus on 10s to 100s of impactful genetic mutations over 1000s of cells without sacrificing data quality. Furthermore, targeted custom panels reduce the cost that is often associated with single-cell experiments while keeping analysis simple and cost-effective, enabling routine adoption of single-cell sequencing, according to the company.

“You can think of Tapestri Designer as the 3D printer for single-cell DNA panels,” explained Charlie Silver, co-founder and CEO of Mission Bio, in a company press release. “What once took weeks or months and a bioinformatician is now a self-service cloud platform that can be used by research teams to create panels tailored to specific experiments and needs, all on-demand. This automated capability cuts out the middleman, streamlining the process and empowering researchers to improve their understanding of cancer, inform treatment options, and, ultimately, save patient lives.”

“We are excited to add the Tapestri Platform to our Single-Cell Accelerator Program. This technology now allows us to profile mutational heterogeneity at the single-cell level which is essential to unlock the secrets of cancer progression and therapy resistance,” said Toon Swings, life science technology specialist at VIB Tech Watch and project lead for the implementation of the Mission Bio technology, in the press release. “Tapestri Designer is pioneering to the whole single-cell field. It is incredibly easy to use, and it has significantly reduced our design turnaround time. This is essential as we plan to run several custom panels across a variety of cancer indications on the Tapestri Platform.”

Source: Mission Bio