Why we invested in Pixelgen
Offers a molecular assay to study the surface proteome of single cells, which is used to inform scientist on basic immunological function and on the mode of action of novel drugs.
Unwrapping the molecular understanding of human biology has been in the focus of biotechnology for decades. It has generated vast advances in fields like proteomics that in in turn has contributed to new therapeutics and other health care improvements. For a long time, the approach to unwrapping the molecular system of human biology and physiology has been limited by the tools available to study the biomolecules of the body. One by one, or two by two, molecules and molecular interactions have been characterized and mapped into a system.
Spatial biology is a novel field with the aim to capture the spatial context of biology, in order to understand how molecular interactions on a broader scale affect biological function and dysfunction. Spatial biologists typically rely on optical methods to create biological contextualization. However, resolution limitations is making it impossible to zoom in past tissues and cells without losing multiplexity. And if multiplexing goes, so does the biological context. Thus, the system of molecules, like the proteome, has been out of reach for spatial biologists.
Team Pixelgen, consisting of scientists turned entrepreneurs, has spent years contributing to life science with molecular tool innovations through successful firms like Olink, Vanadis, Halo Genomics and 10x Genomics. Frustrated by the limitation of optical methods, they invented a new technology to study molecular biology: molecular pixelation. With molecular pixelation, researchers across academia and industry are able to create data rich digital twins of the cellular proteome, which effectively unlocks spatial proteomics. And with that a new avenue to data driven drug discovery and novel diagnostics is opened.
Ultimately, we invested in Pixelgen because we are convinced their technology and team will enable a new frontier of life science innovation.
Investment date
June 2022
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