Lunaphore announces installation of COMET™ PA platform at Northwestern University to uncover mechanisms of immune suppression in pediatric brain cancer

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – June 21, 2022 – 4 pm (CEST) – Lunaphore, a Swiss life sciences company developing technology to enable spatial biology in every laboratory, today announced the installation of its COMET™ PA instrument at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Researchers will use COMET™ to better understand the mechanisms of tumor-mediated immune suppression in pediatric brain cancer. Amy Heimberger, M.D, Jean Malnati Miller, Professor of Brain Tumor Research at Northwestern University, will lead the research project. Craig Horbinski, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Nervous System Tumor Bank, will co-administrate with Dr. Heimberger on project implementation and operational management.

There has been limited research on the tumor microenvironment of pediatric primary brain tumors to-date. Deconstruction-based assays such as flow cytometry decode the profiling of immune cell populations, although these methods provide very limited information about the spatial configuration of cellular interactions. Such insights could be valuable for identifying potential targets for immune therapeutics in children with brain cancer.

As part of the initial project, researchers will use COMET™ to study the composition, distribution, and interactions of immune cells within the different areas of the tumor microenvironment in pediatric primary brain tumors by performing multiplex staining. They will develop hyperplex immunofluorescence assay panels for use in the central nervous system using COMET™ with the goal of maximizing automation and staining quality, while minimizing sample processing time.

“Biomedical research has traditionally had to focus on a single gene or a single cell type. Such an approach will be insufficient for understanding cancer since this is a disease of interactions among a diverse array of neoplastic and non-neoplastic cells. COMET™ will allow us to better characterize those cellular interactions and be at the forefront of the new evolution of therapeutics that are focused on reshaping those interactions,” according to Dr. Heimberger.

“We are excited to support the Northwestern team as they conduct research into an area of unmet medical need that could have profound impact for children with brain cancer,” said Ata Tuna Ciftlik, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Lunaphore. “We are also proud to see the value our solution can create and for bringing spatial profiling to a broad and immediate set of applications. I personally look forward to seeing the groundbreaking research by Dr. Heimberger touching the patients in the future.”

To learn more about the COMET™ PA platform, please visit: https://lunaphore.com/products/comet/

To learn more about Lunaphore, please visit: https://lunaphore.com

About COMET™

COMET™ is a fully automated sequential immunofluorescence (seqIF™) instrument, able to perform hyperplex staining and imaging, producing high-quality data in a robust and reproducible manner. With superior tissue profiling capabilities, the system allows multiplex analysis of up to 40 different spatial markers per tissue slide without human intervention. COMET™ has a wide range of research applications, allowing for a dramatic improvement in the understanding of disease pathology in areas such as immuno-oncology, neuroscience, and infectious diseases. COMET™ is currently available through a Priority Access Program. To learn more about the COMET™ platform, please visit: https://lunaphore.com/products/comet/

About Lunaphore

Lunaphore Technologies S.A. is a Swiss company born in 2014 with the vision of enabling spatial biology in every laboratory. Lunaphore has developed a game-changing chip technology which can extract spatial proteomic and genomic data from tumors and transform any simple assay into multiplex spatial biology without complexity. Lunaphore empowers researchers to push the boundaries of research to ultimately develop the next generation personalized therapies. Lunaphore recently completed registration as C corporation in the United States as part of its continuing global expansion to serve customers and partners in the translational and clinical research markets. For further information on Lunaphore and its products, please visit www.lunaphore.com.

For further information contact:

Irene Tamayo

Lunaphore Corporate Communications

Email: [email protected]