Curiox Biosystems expands research collaboration with A*STAR’s Singapore Immunology Network to develop a novel “closed-system” immune profiling pipeline for infectious diseases

Woburn, MA

Curiox Biosystems, a leader in sample preparation systems for flow cytometry and biomarker multiplexing, is pleased to announce an expansion of their ongoing collaboration with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR’s) Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), to develop a novel “closed-system” profiling of immune cells in infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

Curiox has developed a centrifuge-free automatable sample preparation for immune-phenotyping using the Laminar Wash™ system, a disruptive technology, which allows for the safe processing and analysis of immune cells in their native state with minimal stress and bias without undergoing the stress of lysis and centrifugation. Coupled with SIgN’s expertise in trained immunity and systems vaccinology, Curiox and SIgN will work together to develop a novel standardized platform for safe, accurate and sensitive immune profiling of blood immune cells to understand host immune responses to infectious disease. This will facilitate discovery of immune biomarkers and aid the design of vaccines/immunotherapy in infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

“We are excited to continue our long-standing collaboration with SIgN to demonstrate the improved accuracy, sensitivity and quality of immune phenotyping of blood and tissue samples achieved with the Laminar Wash™ technology to aid vaccine development for COVID-19.” said Namyong Kim, PhD, CEO of Curiox Biosystems. The Laminar Wash™ system uses established surface and intracellular staining protocols for suspension cells, and provides consistency to every lab. It does this by the use of laminar flow-based washing of cells, replacing complicated and variable centrifugation, pipetting and flicking/aspiration of tubes or plates. Dr. Kim says, “Centrifugation elicits changes in the cell population, and the fewer variables or manipulations the cells experience, the higher the quality of the flow cytometry data, which is critical for understanding their phenotype and trained immunity response in hosts to infectious agents and potential vaccine candidates.”

“This partnership benefits from the development of a novel and safe immune-phenotyping workflow for the study of blood immune cells in their native state,” says Professor Laurent Renia, Executive Director, SIgN.

Applications of this work include studying the underlying host immune response to infectious disease(s) and their post-recovery immune effects to make informed treatment decisions and aid efforts in vaccine development.

About Curiox Biosystems: Curiox Biosystems is a bioinstrumentation company spun out of the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore. Curiox has become a leader in the development and commercialization of innovative assay platforms based on its expertise in surface chemistry and engineering. Curiox’s vision is to accelerate the progress of life sciences, drug discovery and diagnostics through the miniaturization and improved automation of bioassays. For more information visit https://www.curiox.com/