BioTechniques News
Beatrice Bowlby
In this edition of the biotech bi-weekly, learn more about the world’s first AI biosecurity lab launching in the UK, a versatile gel imaging system for proteomic, genomic and transcriptomic imaging, and a suite of new media for EVs. We also cover the latest funding rounds cleared and unveil the winner of the 2026 ‘Drug Discovery Company of the Year’ award.
Products
Extracellular vesicle medium gets a new GMP-grade version to aid clinical translation
Takara Bio Europe (Paris, France), manufacturer and supplier of cell biology reagents and services, has introduced a GMP-grade version of Cellartis® MSC EV Wonder™, its defined, xeno-free medium developed for the efficient and scalable production of extracellular vesicles from human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
“By expanding Cellartis MSC EV Wonder with a GMP-grade option, we are strengthening our support for developers working to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and clinical translation,” commented Tarik Hadi, Senior Market Strategy Manager at Takara Bio Europe.
New imaging system to streamline parallel proteomic, genomic and transcriptomic imaging
Thermo Fisher Scientific (MA, USA) has launched the Invitrogen™ iGlow™ Gel Documentation System, a compact imaging system that brings together protein and nucleic acid imaging into a single instrument, with one-touch capture and integrated UV, blue and white LED illumination. Purified protein is suitable for downstream mass spectrometry analysis, while extracted DNA and RNA are compatible with next-generation sequencing applications, enabling more direct comparison of molecular data generated from the same sample.
Get more info on the system here >>>
New widely applicable ‘value-priced’ master mixes for qPCR
Thermo Fisher Scientific has also released AmpSure Universal SYBR Green and Probe Master Mixes. Designed for everyday applications, the mixes support reliable, reproducible quantitative PCR (qPCR) performance and offer researchers a value-priced option as labs balance performance with budget. Both mixes are compatible with leading qPCR instruments and a wide range of reverse transcriptases, primers and probes. This flexibility allows researchers to use AmpSure with their existing instruments and established workflows.
Automated platform places cell interactions in context
Moleculent (Stockholm, Sweden), a functional profiling biotech company, has released Glimt, an automated platform that detects cell–cell interactions directly in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, through an early access program, with full commercial access coming in 2027. The Glimt platform runs Moleculent’s proprietary Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA), which detects interacting receptor–ligand pairs between neighboring cells in their native tissue environment at high plex. In the same run, the platform detects individual proteins for cell typing, placing each interaction in its tissue context.
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Partnerships
UK launches world-first AI Biosecurity Lab
The UK government has announced the world’s first AI biosecurity lab, backed by £100 million of government funding, and up to £200 million in company commitments from OpenAI and Anthropic (both CA, USA). The lab will use frontier AI to develop technical capabilities and support partners, including the UK’s national biosecurity centers and life sciences industry, to detect biological threats earlier and accelerate the discovery, development and testing of vaccines, treatments and other medical countermeasures. The lab aims to help the UK better understand, prevent, detect and respond to biological threats, building on the UK’s broader Biological Security Strategy.
Early-stage mRNA therapeutics company secures seed funding
SRTD Biotech (Jülich, Germany), a next-generation mRNA therapeutics-focused biotech company, just closed its oversubscribed €31.5 million seed funding round, led by Mérieux Equity Partners (Lyon, France). The new capital will fund the preclinical development of SRTD’s pipeline of novel targeted RNA therapies across oncology, autoimmune and fibrosis indications towards Investigational New Drug (IND).
Immunology-focused biotech purchases a macrocyclic peptide discovery engine
Immunology innovation company argenx (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Unnatural Products, Inc. (CA, USA), a biotech company that has developed a platform to address the complexities of medicinal chemistry in the macrocyclic peptide space through a combination of parallel experimentation and machine learning.
“UNP adds macrocyclic peptide capabilities that are highly complementary to our antibody engineering and creates new possibilities for oral and long-acting medicines. After working together for more than two years, we also know there is a strong fit in how we work: science first, entrepreneurial and focused on patients. We want to preserve what has made UNP successful while bringing the strengths of both teams together,” commented argenx CEO Karen Massey.
Early-stage myeloproliferative neoplasms biotherapeutics company secures funding to enable clinical-stage transition
A biopharmaceutical company targeting myeloproliferative neoplasms, Alethio Therapeutics (Oxford, UK), has completed its oversubscribed US$90 million Series A funding round. The round was co-led by new investors Sofinnova Partners (Paris, France) and RA Capital (MA, USA), alongside founding investor Oxford Science Enterprises (UK), with additional support from the University of Oxford (UK) and Cancer Research Horizons (London, UK).
The proceeds of the financing will enable Alethio to transition into a clinical-stage company, with capital deployed to advance its lead program, ATX-011, through completion of Phase 1/2a studies in essential thrombocythaemia, up to Phase 3 readiness, while also progressing additional MPN programs towards IND submission.
Funding round supports expansion of single-cell screening platform for antibody discovery
Samplix (Copenhagen, Denmark), a provider of droplet microfluidics technology for functional single-cell analysis, has reached the end point of a €25 million funding round to support the commercial expansion of Xdrop, its single-cell screening platform for antibody discovery and biotherapeutic development. Xdrop enables researchers to screen cells based on their biological function, helping identify and recover cells producing antibodies with the desired activity. The funding round was led by family office and private investment firm WLan Holding GmbH (Vienna, Austria)
This Application Note highlights how Illumina TruPath™ Genome, combined with the DRAGEN™ Multi-Region Joint Detection algorithm, enables haplotype-resolved, copy-aware detection of small variants in highly homologous and paralogous genomic regions using a single whole-genome sequencing workflow.
People and publications
And the award goes to…
Kazia Therapeutics Limited (Sydney, Australia), an oncology-focused biotechnology company developing therapies that selectively reprogram cancer biology, restore anti-tumor immunity and overcome treatment resistance, has been named ‘Drug Discovery Company of the Year’ in the 2026 BioTech Breakthrough Awards program, recognizing their innovative approach to developing next-generation cancer therapeutics.
Kazia’s lead asset, paxalisib, is an investigational, oral, brain-penetrant dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor with emerging evidence supporting its potential to reprogram cancer biology and the tumor microenvironment through epigenetic and immune-mediated mechanisms.
“Treatment resistance remains one of the greatest challenges in advanced breast cancer and other difficult-to-treat cancers. At Kazia, we are pursuing a differentiated approach to drug discovery that goes beyond conventional pathway inhibition to address the underlying biological mechanisms that enable tumors to evade the immune system and resist treatment,” commented John Friend, CEO of Kazia Therapeutics.
The post The biotech bi-weekly: world-first AI biosecurity lab launched, a new streamlined multiomic imaging system, and new EV media and qPCR master mixes appeared first on BioTechniques.
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