Nikon Instruments Inc. and Bio-Techne announce partnership to expand access to innovative spatial biology services

MELVILLE, N.Y., March 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nikon Instruments Inc. (Nikon) is pleased to announce that they have entered into a partnership with Lunaphore, part of Bio-Techne Corporation's Spatial Biology Division, to expand access to spatial biology services with the COMET™ platform for US-based biotech, pharma, and academic customers.

Through this partnership, in addition to access to the COMET™ platform, Nikon will be able to provide its customers with access to HORIZON™, Lunaphore's image analysis software designed for analyzing COMET™ hyperplex images, to further streamline image analysis workflow. Researchers and clinicians can leverage the COMET™ platform by Lunaphore to unlock the full potential of spatial biology for their research objectives.

The Nikon BioImaging Lab is a research and innovation hub recently established by Nikon in the Greater Boston area, Massachusetts with the overarching mission of providing contract imaging solutions, AI-enhanced analysis and bioassay development services to foster research and drug discovery. Lunaphore's flagship COMET™ technology is the only fully-automated, high-throughput, hyperplex platform with superior tissue profiling capabilities, which performs protein detection with standard, non-conjugated antibodies. Together, the Nikon BioImaging Lab and Lunaphore will be able to leverage their complementary expertise in microscopy-based imaging and analysis for expanded capabilities in spatial biology to the greater scientific community.

"Nikon is very excited to have a strategic partnership with Lunaphore," said Toshisada Matsuba, President and CEO at Nikon Instruments Inc.

"We are pleased to provide spatial biology assay services using Lunaphore's automated COMET™ platform for hyperplex immunofluorescence alongside the broad range of imaging solutions we offer with our Nikon microscopes," added Fumiki Yanagawa, General Manager at the Nikon BioImaging Lab. "Spatial biology is a dynamic area of innovation that will shed new light on healthcare and further our understanding of human disease and health."

"The deployment of COMET™ at the Nikon BioImaging Lab ensures that an expanded base of customers and researchers across the US can access the cutting-edge capabilities of our spatial biology solutions," said Matt McManus, President of Bio-Techne's Diagnostics & Genomics Segment. "This strategic partnership reflects Bio-Techne and Nikon's shared commitment to bringing outstanding innovation to scientists and helping push the boundaries of research."

About Nikon Instruments Inc. and Nikon BioImaging Lab

Nikon Instruments Inc. is the US microscopy arm of Nikon Healthcare, a world leader in the development and manufacture of optical and digital imaging technology for biomedical applications. For more information, please visit https://www.microscope.healthcare.nikon.com or contact us at 1-800-52-NIKON.

The Nikon BioImaging Lab, established in Boston, is a fully equipped laboratory housing a wide range of advanced microscopes and other critical instrumentation, and staffed by experienced scientists who collaborate with pharma, biotech and academic customers to develop solutions for their wide-ranging needs, from cell culture to imaging-based studies of biological tissues and bioassays. For more information, please visit https://www.microscope.healthcare.nikon.com/bioimaging-centers/nikon-bioimaging-labs/boston-usa or contact us at 1-800-52-NIKON.

About Bio-Techne and Lunaphore

Bio-Techne Corporation is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated over $1.1 billion in net sales in fiscal 2023 and has approximately 3,100 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit https://www.bio-techne.com or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube. 

Lunaphore Technologies S.A. – a Bio-Techne brand, is a Swiss company born in 2014 with the vision of enabling spatial biology in every laboratory. Lunaphore provides solutions based on a game-changing chip technology that can extract spatial proteomic and transcriptomic data from tumors and other tissues, transforming any assay into multiplex spatial biology through a streamlined and easily integrated process. Lunaphore empowers researchers in immunology, immuno-oncology, and neuroscience to push the boundaries of scientific discovery and drug development. Lunaphore's technology enables the identification of biomarker "signatures" with clinical relevance to support the development of diagnostic tools and streamline clinical trials, to ultimately improve patient outcomes. For further information on Lunaphore and its products, please visit https://lunaphore.com.

SOURCE Nikon Instruments Inc.