Vizgen Launches the MERSCOPE® PanNeuro Cell Type Predesigned Panel

Enabling identification of major neuronal and non-neuronal cell types across all mouse brain regions

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vizgen, the life science company dedicated to improving human health by visualizing single-cell spatial genomics information, today announced the launch of its highly anticipated MERSCOPE^® PanNeuro Cell Type Predesigned Panel, enabling cellular and sub-cellular analysis of neuronal signaling, activity and connectivity in the mouse brain.

The PanNeuro Cell Type Panel is the first of Vizgen’s predesigned 500 gene panels, providing a readily accessible tool for researchers working in neuroscience. This comprehensive cell typing panel was constructed using the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas¹, published literature^2-6, and published Vizgen Mouse Brain datasets⁷. Vizgen’s PanNeuro Cell Type Panel not only provides the ability to identify cells, but also to probe neuronal signaling, activity and connectivity at cellular and subcellular levels, allowing researchers to:

• Identify all major cell types including astrocytes, ependymal cells, immune cells, neurons, oligodendrocytes, peripheral glial cells, and vascular cells
• Resolve neuronal and non-neuronal cell subtypes
• Explore functional information of cell subtypes
• Investigate cell interactions across the mouse brain

Vizgen’s MERSCOPE^® Platform was instrumental in the creation of the new Whole Mouse Brain Atlas, a multi-center project spearheaded by the Allen Institute for Brain Science to map the entire mouse brain in three-dimensional space. A paper detailing the findings of the project is published on bioRxiv. Many key marker genes used in the new PanNeuro panel were well validated in the Whole Mouse Brain Atlas.

"This paper is a landmark study in the spatial genomics space as it establishes both an important benchmark reference and a foundational resource that we’ve consulted for construction of our PanNeuro panel,” said Jiang He, PhD, Scientific Co-founder and Senior Director of Scientific Affairs at Vizgen. “We are incredibly proud that Vizgen’s technology has helped enable this research."

About Vizgen

Vizgen is dedicated to pioneering the next generation of genomics, providing tools that demonstrate the possibilities of in situ single-cell spatial genomics, setting the standard for the spatial genomics field. These tools are enabling researchers to gain new insight into the biological systems that govern human health and disease with spatial context. The company’s MERSCOPE^® Platform enables massively multiplexed, genome-scale nucleic acid imaging with high accuracy and unrivaled detection efficiency at subcellular resolution. MERSCOPE^® provides transformative insight into a wide range of tissue-scale basic research and translational medicine in oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious disease, developmental biology, cell and gene therapy, and is an essential tool for accelerating drug discovery and development. For more information, go to www.vizgen.com. For more information, go to www.vizgen.com. Connect on social media Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

References

1. https://mouse.brain-map.org/
2. Chen, R. et al. Decoding molecular and cellular heterogeneity of mouse nucleus accumbens. Nat Neurosci 24, 1757-1771 (2021).
3. Moffitt, J.R. et al. Molecular, spatial, and functional single-cell profiling of the hypothalamic preoptic region. Science 362, eaau5324 (2018).
4. Saunders, A. et al. Molecular Diversity and Specializations among the Cells of the Adult Mouse Brain. Cell 174, 1015-1030 e1016 (2018).
5. Zeisel, A. et al. Molecular Architecture of the Mouse Nervous System. Cell 174, 999-1014 e1022 (2018).
6. Zhang, M. et al. Spatially resolved cell atlas of the mouse primary motor cortex by MERFISH. Nature 598, 137-143 (2021).
7. https://vizgen.com/data-release-program