Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a fundamental technique used to visualize specific cellular components within tissue samples. It plays a crucial role in drug discovery and development by enabling scientists to profile tissues and assess biomarker expression. These insights are invaluable for understanding the mechanisms of drug action, toxicity, and resistance. However, traditional IHC techniques face significant limitations, particularly in the area of multiplexing – the ability to detect multiple markers within the same sample. This is where Visikol’s Highly-Multiplexed Immunohistochemistry Services come into play.

Visikol has developed advanced technology that allows for the labeling of 10 or more markers on a single slide, with the added capability of co-registering multiple rounds of sequential labeling on the same slide. This breakthrough provides pharmaceutical scientists with an unprecedented level of detail, offering a more comprehensive understanding of tissue biology and drug interactions. In this blog post, we’ll explore how Visikol’s Highly-Multiplexed Immunohistochemistry Services are poised to revolutionize drug discovery and development.

Advancing Drug Discovery with Multiplex Immunohistochemistry

Multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) addresses the challenges posed by traditional IHC by enabling the simultaneous labeling of multiple markers within a single sample. This capability is particularly valuable for tissue profiling, as the expression patterns of multiple biomarkers can provide deep insights into tissue biology and drug activity.

Visikol’s Highly-Multiplexed Immunohistochemistry Services elevate mIHC to new heights by allowing the labeling of 10 or more markers on a single slide. This is made possible through Visikol’s proprietary EasyPlex™ antibody stripping reagent and co-registration software, which facilitate multiple rounds of sequential labeling from the same slide. As a result, scientists can label and image numerous markers in the same sample, revealing intricate details about tissue biology and drug mechanisms.

Transforming Drug Discovery with Visikol’s Technology

The ability to label multiple markers in a single sample offers pharmaceutical scientists unprecedented insights into drug mechanisms, toxicity, and resistance. By using Visikol’s Highly-Multiplexed Immunohistochemistry Services to profile tissues, researchers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of how drugs interact with tissues and cells. This, in turn, supports the development of more effective drugs with fewer side effects.

Visikol’s technology is particularly advantageous for customized research. Scientists can collaborate with Visikol’s team to design a custom panel of markers tailored to their specific research needs. This allows for focused investigation into particular pathways and mechanisms, paving the way for more targeted drug development.

Multiplex immunohistochemistry is a powerful tool in the realm of drug discovery and development, and Visikol’s Highly-Multiplexed Immunohistochemistry Services are at the forefront of this innovation. By providing unparalleled detail about tissue biology and drug interactions, Visikol is helping to drive more effective and safer drug development. If you’re interested in exploring how Visikol’s Highly-Multiplexed Immunohistochemistry Services can enhance your research, please reach out to a member of our team today!

As a company focused on advanced tissue imaging, we have always worked to provide our clients with access to the most cutting-edge technologies that enable them to easily transform their tissues into large data sets that can be mined for actionable insights. Over the last six years, we have introduced many novel tissue imaging technologies such as our Visikol HISTO reagents and most recently launched our Visikol Multiplex Immunofluorescence approach. Our multiplex tissue imaging approach allows us to expand beyond traditional fluorescent labeling and to achieve >12 labels per single slide while not requiring special equipment, being compatible with all standard antibodies and being easy to validate new labels.

While the technology is able to generate high resolution multiplex images from slides, one of the key challenges that we encountered in developing the approach was how to quickly and easily share the data with clients. The image files for a multiplex data set can be >10GB for each slide which creates challenges for transferring the data and further many of the stakeholders involved with a multiplex project might not have access to the appropriate software to even open the images.

It is for this this reason that we built BitSlide™ which is a cloud-based viewing and sharing platform for all image data sets that allows any researcher to open and visualize their image files in a browser based platform without ever needing to download the files. The platform is encrypted and secure on AWS and enables researchers to more closely work with Visikol throughout a project. This means that clients can easily provide feedback on labeling in real-time and the Visikol research team can quickly work with clients to identify regions of interest for further analysis.

Below is an example of the BitSlide™ platform being used in tandem with the Visikol Multiplex Immunofluorescence approach for a twelve-plex imaging panel that includes CD68, PanCK, CD8, Granzyme B, CD3, Ki67, PDL1, CD45ro, PD-1, MHC-II, CD11b, and CD20.

Hampton, NJ – Visikol has announced that it is partnering with Molecular Instruments (MI) to offer HCR-based RNA FISH and IHC multiplex tissue imaging as a service, adding to the already robust multiplex imaging offering. Visikol provides pharmaceutical and biotech companies with advanced tissue imaging and advanced cell culture assays as a service and today counts all twenty of the top pharmaceutical companies as clients. This addition marks another expansion of the company’s advanced tissue imaging portfolio and aligns with Visikol’s mission of transforming tissues into actionable and quantitative insights for its clients.

“Combining the spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression with protein expression allows Visikol to provide an even greater deal of insights from a single slide, which is incredibly important for precious clinical and preclinical samples,” described Visikol CEO Dr. Michael Johnson.

This new service has been piloted with numerous clients over the last few months and is now available to all Visikol’s clients as a standalone service, or in combination with Visikol’s in-house multiplex IHC approach. The data from the service will also be shared with customers through Visikol’s BitSlide™ platform and can be analyzed using the company’s extensive suite of digital pathology software. “The HCR-based approach for imaging gene expression is unique in its ease-of-use, as well as in its compatibility with multiplex IHC on the same slide. We have also been really impressed by its ability to be used in whole mount thick tissues and are very excited to start offering the technology through our advanced tissue imaging services,” described Visikol CSO Dr. Tom Villani.

Going forward, Visikol looks to continue to work with MI on offering new services that take advantage of novel HCR-based products and is actively seeking to push the envelope on advanced tissue imaging. “HCR amplification technology is appreciated as one of the most significant innovations in bioimaging in several decades, as shown by our users’ extensive publication record working across diverse targets and sample types including whole-mount model/non-model organisms and thin/thick tissue sections. As adoption of HCR-based imaging products grows, we are excited to offer Visikol’s expertise to our users going forward,” commented MI Head of Commercial Dr. Aneesh Acharya.

To learn more about this service click here.

For further information, please contact:
Michael Johnson, CEO, Visikol
Email: Michael.johnson@visikol.com

This information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above,
on March 11, 2022, at 14:00am (CET).

About Visikol
Visikol is a contract research services company that is focused on accelerating the drug discovery and development process through providing its clients with advanced tissue imaging and advanced cell culture services. Today, Visikol counts all twenty of the top twenty pharmaceutical companies as clients and has been instrumental in dozens of drug discovery programs. The company provides end-to-end services that include 3D tissue imaging, multiplex tissue imaging, digital pathology, high content imaging, 2D cell culture assays, 3D cell culture assays and ex vivo tissue slice assays. Visikol’s expertise lies in both transforming tissues into actionable insights as well as bridging the gap between in vitro assays and in vivo results through the use of bestin-class cell culture models. In addition to its services, Visikol sells a suite of tissue clearing reagents and kits as well as the HUREL® Micro Liver portfolio of primary hepatocyte liver models.

About Molecular Instruments

Molecular Instruments (MI) has the exclusive worldwide license to hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and is the sole developer of HCR-based imaging technologies and reagents. The HCR imaging platform ushers in a new era in which the building blocks of life are quantified at high resolution in the anatomical context of intact tissues. HCR RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (HCR RNA-FISH) and immunohistochemistry (HCR IHC), enables simultaneous multiplexed, quantitative, high-resolution RNA and protein imaging in the anatomical context of intact tissues, with 1-step, isothermal, enzyme-free HCR signal amplification for all targets simultaneously. The MI team designs, manufactures, and ships reagents from its Los Angeles, CA headquarter to thousands of users around the world across academia, drug development, and diagnostics. The company is proud to stand resolutely by its mantra – “by scientists, for scientists.”