Visikol started providing researchers with advanced tissue imaging services over six years ago and over this period of time has continually introduced new imaging service offerings and built new technology platforms. Most recently, Visikol added Imaging Mass Cytometry as a service through a partnership with Standard BioTools which allows for researchers to image up to 40+ markers on a single slide.
One of the core beliefs at Visikol has always been that in order to provide clients with the best services, the company needed to be technology agnostic. While we always get excited by new life science technologies and tools, all technologies and tools have their unique place and typically no tools is best for all applications. The application of a life science tool is a unique balance of cost, throughput, relevancy and various other factors that vary from use case to use case. For example, in the tissue clearing space while the company was the first to commercialize tissue clearing with Visikol HISTO, the technology is not applicable for all applications and thus Visikol routinely leverages other tissue clearing techniques. In the relatively new field of multiplex tissue imaging, the same belief is true where no single approach to multiplex tissue imaging has the perfect mix of cost, throughput, and quality for all applications.
We find that having a suite of similar tools for each application and being technology agnostic allows us to truly provide our clients with the most value,” describes Visikol CSO Dr. Tom Villani.
This is why Visikol currently offers both fluorescent based multiplex tissue imaging as well as imaging mass cytometry based multiplex tissue imaging. Both approaches have their unique advantages and disadvantages and Visikol works closely with clients to determine what tool is best for their research question and unique constraints. “We find that having a suite of similar tools for each application and being technology agnostic allows us to truly provide our clients with the most value,” describes Visikol CSO Dr. Tom Villani.
The Visikol multiplex tissue imaging portfolio spans different techniques (fluorescence, IMC) and also multiple imaging modalities (slide scanning, confocal) as well as image analysis platforms (3Screen™, HALO, ImageJ) which means that a very specific solution can be developed for a specific research application. This approach allows for a large diversity of projects to be addressed while minimizing cost and maximizing value add for researchers. For example, Visikol can conduct 8-plex immune cell profiling using confocal high resolution imaging or 35-plex tumor microenvironment biomarker evaluation using IMC and 10X resolution.
If you are interested in learning more about our multiplex tissue imaging services and choosing between fluorescent and multiplex tissue imaging, check out the below resource:
When to use IMC Over Multiplex Fluorescence