On October 11, 2022 ONI, a single-molecule imaging platform biotech, reported a research collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, one of the true pioneers of CAR-T (chimeric antigen t-cell) research and clinical trials (Press release, ONI, OCT 11, 2022, View Source [SID1234621910]). The collaboration aims to enhance the understanding of CAR-T therapies using super-resolution microscopy, identifying predictive biomarkers and characteristics related to CAR-T treatment efficacy and safety, with the goal of improving patient outcomes. ONI’s flagship product, the Nanoimager, will allow these researchers to visualize living cells and track how single molecules interact. With a resolution down to 20 nanometres (a 10-fold improvement vs traditional microscopy), the presence and distribution of these biomarkers on CAR-T and tumor cells from patient samples can also be quantified.
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The University of Pennsylvania, which includes the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies and the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC), is one of the world’s leading centers in CAR-T research, having developed the first CAR-T therapy approved by the FDA. At the ACC, Marco Ruella, MD, leads a team that focuses on the study of the mechanisms of resistance to CAR-T therapy and the development of next-generation CAR-T treatments.
"This important collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Ruella using our Nanoimager technology will leverage super-resolution imaging to help guide development of better CAR-T therapies and hopefully positively impact patients’ lives in the future," said Bo Jing, CEO of ONI. "The precise data obtained from viewing living cells as they interact and the light it sheds on disease mechanisms allow enormous strides to be made in the design of novel therapeutics and diagnostics."
"Despite great progress, following CAR-T treatment, a subset of patients do not respond or eventually suffer relapses. Subsequently, there is significant interest in further understanding the key factors associated with outcome and toxicity after CAR-T therapy and how these observations could help guide next-generation CAR-T therapies," Dr. Ruella said. "The use of next-generation imaging technologies that can visualize the interaction between CAR-T and tumor cells could provide key insights into mechanisms of action not available with other technologies."