A press release stated, NanoString Technologies and Mayo Clinic Laboratories have announced a collaboration to develop clinical tests using NanoString's new GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler.
GeoMx combines spatial and molecular profiling technologies by generating a whole tissue image at single cell resolution while also providing digital profiling data for tens to thousands of RNA or protein analytes for up to 16–20 tissue slides per day. This combination of spatial profiling enables researchers to rapidly assess the biological implications within tissue samples.
As part of the collaboration, the two organizations will use NanoString's nCounter platform and the GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler. An initial cross-site study will use the GeoMx DSP technology to investigate the immune architecture of high-risk hormone receptor positive HER2-negative breast tumor samples to understand the biology of breast cancer. Understanding the biology is necessary to develop prognostic or predictive biomarkers and new therapies. A second study will evaluate the use of NanoString's fusion assays on the nCounter platform as a scalable and cost-effective alternative to conventional FISH assays in the study of leukemia.