Radically different
Figure 2 from the PURPOSE-1 trial changed the world.
Between gray and red bars representing the study’s background HIV incidence and the arms randomized to receive oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) was white space filled only by a previously unimaginable number: zero. Zero infections over one year among the 2,134 cisgender adolescent girls and young women who received the novel long-acting injectable antiretroviral lenacapavir.
Axons—the long, cable‑like projections that relay electrical signals across the nervous system—depend on tightly wrapped layers of myelin to keep those messages fast and reliable. When this insulation is damaged, as in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases, signal transmission slows and neurons eventually degenerate. Although oligodendrocytes can repair myelin early on in the process, this capacity declines with age and repeated inflammatory attacks, leaving researchers searching for therapies that can restore myelin more effectively.
A team at University College London (UCL) has now developed a more physiologically realistic way to study how myelin forms—and how potential drugs might influence that process. Their new hydrogel‑based axon model, described in Nature Methods in a paper titled “Tunable hydrogel‑based micropillar arrays for myelination studies,” recreates both the geometry and softness of real axons. The platform is designed to address a longstanding problem in the field: many drug candidates that appear promising in rigid, plastic‑based lab models ultimately fail in human trials.
“To stop MS, we need therapies that repair myelin,” said senior author Emad Moeendarbary, PhD, professor of cell mechanics and mechanobiology at UCL and CEO of BioRecode. “Promising drug candidates in the past have failed when tested in human patients. One factor might be that laboratory models do not replicate the basic physical properties of the human brain.”
The UCL team engineered vertical micropillars—each tens of times thinner than a human hair—using a microfabrication process called photolithography that allowed them to precisely tune diameter, spacing, and stiffness. Unlike earlier artificial axons made from hard polymers, these pillars are composed of polyacrylamide hydrogel, a material whose elasticity can be adjusted to match the ~5 kPa softness of native axons. As the authors noted in the paper, the system “mimics the three‑dimensional architecture and softness of axons,” enabling oligodendrocytes to form “multilayered compact myelin” around the pillars.
The researchers seeded the hydrogel pillars with human and rodent oligodendrocytes and tested several candidate remyelination drugs. When the pillars were tuned to realistic softness, drug performance dropped—suggesting that overly rigid models may have produced misleading hits in the past. “Our work suggests that commonly used rigid models, hundreds of times stiffer than real axons, can generate misleading drug hits,” Moeendarbary said. “We believe that our more life-like model can be used as a more robust early test of drug candidates and as a platform to discover new drugs.”
The study also marks the first demonstration of compact, multilayered myelin grown from human oligodendrocytes in a fully hydrogel‑based system. The platform’s design allows high‑content imaging, transcriptomic profiling, and systematic variation of mechanical cues—capabilities that could help researchers dissect how myelin forms and why it fails in disease.
Building such a soft, microscale structure was not trivial. “Hydrogel is a close mimic of living cells… but to fabricate a soft hydrogel at such a small scale is not an easy task,” Moeendarbary noted, crediting the five years of work led by PhD student Soufian Lasli and Claire Vinel, PhD.
By more faithfully recreating the physical environment of the brain, the UCL team hopes their model will provide a more reliable proving ground for remyelination therapies before they reach clinical trials.
The post Hydrogel-Based Axon Model Improves Early Testing for MS Remyelination Therapies appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Background: After breast cancer, cervical cancer (CC) is one of the leading causes of female mortality. CC accounts for more than 7.5% of female cancer deaths worldwide. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted disease in women and the leading cause of CC in almost 99% of all CC cases. HPV vaccination could prevent up to 70% of HPV-related CC and 90% of genital warts. HPV vaccination is the bedrock of primary prevention and helps reduce the incidence and death rates of HPV-associated CC. Objective: The study aimed to understand the knowledge, health beliefs, and perspectives of Kuwaiti parents regarding HPV vaccination, with the goal of developing a health promotion policy and introducing a national immunization program in Kuwait. Methods: A total of 37 participants were evaluated using purposive sampling to select 20 (54%) participants for one-on-one semistructured interviews. We wanted to include both participants (male and female parents) with primary education (diploma or below) or secondary and higher education (bachelor’s degree and above). We had four categories (male parents/guardians with a diploma or below, male parents/guardians with a bachelor’s degree or above, female parents/guardians with a diploma or below, and female parents/guardians with a bachelor’s degree or above) with at least 5 participants in each category, which gave us 20 participants. Semistructured interviews were based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). The data were thematically analyzed using an inductive approach, generating themes through the theoretical framework of the HBM, and theme extraction analyses were managed on a semantic level. Results: We identified 7 main themes containing 20 subthemes. The seven themes were (1) knowledge and awareness about HPV infection and vaccination (3 subthemes); (2) perceived susceptibility, which is explained by the HPV infection effect based on sex (2 subthemes); (3) perceived barriers to HPV vaccination (8 subthemes); (4) perceived benefits (1 subtheme); (5) perceived severity (2 subthemes); (6) perceived efficacy (2 subthemes); and (7) cues to action (2 subthemes). Conclusions: The HBM framework is beneficial for Kuwait’s HPV vaccination campaign. The correlation between sexual intercourse and the HPV vaccine frequently adds complexity to the decision-making process about immunization. This study demonstrates that positive cues to action from health care practitioners and educational vaccination benefits can overcome perceived barriers among parents related to stigma and religion. It is essential to conduct more such research to guide the development of interventions aimed at promoting adoption of the HPV vaccine.
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed including microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants in drinking water for the first time, a step that could eventually lead to new limits on those substances for water utilities.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the agency is responding to Americans who have worried about plastics and pharmaceuticals in their drinking water. The gesture also aims to hand a win to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement, which for months has pressured Zeldin to further crack down on environmental contaminants.
The past year marked a proverbial inflection point for organoid models designed to uncover biological insights previously unattainable through traditional cell culture experiments or animal models.
The FDA in October approved the first-ever investigational new drug (IND) submission supported solely through human vascularized organoid-based combination studies, without relying on traditional animal efficacy proof-of-concept (POC) testing. The IND application by SillaJen enabled the South Korea-based developer of oncolytic virus immunotherapeutics to begin clinical trials for a combination therapy consisting of tislelizumab or paclitaxel and BAL0891, a dual inhibitor of threonine tyrosine kinase (TTK) and polo-like kinase 1 (PLK).
SillaJen’s combo therapy incorporating BAL0891 is being evaluated in a Phase I trial (NCT05768932) whose primary completion date is estimated at December 24. SillaJen’s IND included preclinical efficacy data generated through the vascularized tumor immune microenvironment model (vTIME) developed by Qureator.
The vTIME platform and SillaJen’s trial are early examples of the shift away from animal testing toward new approach methodologies (NAMs), which the FDA sought to advance through the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, enacted in 2022. The measure removed the animal testing requirement for new FDA-regulated products that was imposed through the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of 1938.
“By leveraging AI-based computational modeling, human organ model-based lab testing, and real-world human data, we can get safer treatments to patients faster and more reliably, while also reducing R&D costs and drug prices,” FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary, MD, stated last year. “It is a win-win for public health and ethics.”
The changing regulatory climate is expected to nearly triple the size of the global organoids market over the next five years, from $1.20 billion last year and a projected $1.42 billion this year to $3.29 billion in 2031—a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.31%, according to a Mordor Intelligence report released in February. The report listed market share leaders in several categories, including:
Given their growing role in drug discovery and prospects for future growth, GEN has compiled its first-ever A-List of organoid companies.
Public companies are ranked by their combined revenues for 2025—or if not available, by their combined revenues for the first nine months of 2025 and fourth quarter of 2024—as disclosed in regulatory filings, including sales of products or services, as well as revenue from collaborations and R&D activity.
The top five public companies are ranked below. Just outside the top five at #6 was Takara Bio, whose reagents business includes organoids. Reagents generated a combined ¥31.211 billion ($197.19 million) in net sales between January and March 2025, the final quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, and April-December 2025, the first three quarters of its FY 2026. Also outside the top five was Tecan Group, whose Life Sciences Business racked up CHF 377.1 million (about $483 million) in 2025 revenue. Two Chinese companies, ACRObiosystems and Sino Biological, reported smaller revenue figures.
Private companies are ranked by the total capital they have raised, as disclosed by the companies themselves, either in press statements or in responses to GEN queries verifying figures compiled by other sources. Companies that failed to respond at deadline have been ranked according to their most recently published figures for total capital raised.
The top five private organoid companies are ranked below. Private companies placing between #6 and #10 in GEN’s rankings include Pandorum Technologies (a reported $43.7 million in total capital raised), Parallel Bio ($30 million), Mimetas (a reported $29.4 million), 28bio ($24 million), and Curi Bio (a reported $20.1 million).
28bio and publicly traded Corning co-sponsored GEN’s recent Spotlight on Organoids, a virtual summit exploring how, from drug developers to universities to research institutions, investigators are increasingly using organoid models. This inaugural GEN Spotlight is available to watch on demand; registration is free.
Not included among the ranked private companies is Crown Bioscience. While the San Diego provider of translational oncology services—including the organoid panel screening platform OrganoidXplore—has raised a reported $108 million in total capital, Crown announced plans last November to be sold by Sunnyvale, CA-based JSR Life Sciences for $204 million to Hangzhou, China-based Adicon Holdings, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group.
Top 5 Public Companies |
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1. Thermo Fisher Scientific (Life Sciences Solutions segment) Revenue: $10.374 billion in 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Life Sciences Solutions segment includes sales from products used in developing organoids, such as OncoPro Tumoroid Cell Lines to support tumoroid development, StemFlex Medium for robust expansion of pluripotent stem cells, and Geltrex Flex matrix for the growth of a variety of cells in 3D cell cultures. In December, Thermo Fisher and AIM Biotech announced a partnership to develop standardized, reliable microphysiological systems (MPSs), focused initially on creating vascularized tumoroid models that the companies said could revolutionize cancer research and immunotherapy development. AIM Biotech contributed its organiX MPS for organoids and biopsies, as well as its VasQ Kit, all-in-one vascularization solution, and technical expertise, while Thermo Fisher provided well-characterized patient-derived tumoroid models, fit-for-purpose OncoPro Tumoroid Culture Medium, and supporting reagents. |
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2. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (Life Science business) Revenue: €8.98 billion ($10.348 billion) in 2025 Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, aims to build a leading presence in organoids through foundational technology, a growing portfolio of patient-derived models, and scalable commercial capabilities. In January 2025, the company announced its acquisition of organoid development pioneer HUB Organoids Holding, based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. By integrating HUB’s patient-derived organoid technology with its existing cell culture expertise, Merck KGaA envisioned enhancing its value to researchers seeking to apply 3D cell culture and next-generation biology to understand drug response earlier in development. In October, Merck KGaA launched a partnership with Promega to develop assays capable of tracking cellular activity in real time using a reporter system within organoids, allowing for testing in models that are physiologically more relevant than traditional two-dimensional models. |
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3. Danaher (Life Sciences segment) Revenue: $7.334 billion in2025 In a December 3 post on its blog, Danaher tallied eight companies within its family of operating companies as being involved in developing organoids: Abcam, Beckman Coulter (non-diagnostic business), Genedata, IDBS, Leica Microsystems, Molecular Devices, Phenomenex, and SCIEX. The eight offer a comprehensive suite of products and technologies designed to support every stage of organoid development, from sample preparation to advanced data analysis. In December, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Medicine (CuSTOM), Molecular Devices, and other partners published a study detailing a new human liver organoid microarray developed by the hospital and Roche—a study co-funded by Danaher, Roche, and the Farmer Family Foundation. CuSTOM and Danaher launched their organoid development partnership in 2024. |
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4. Charles River Laboratories (Discovery and Safety Assessment segment) Revenue: $2.403 billion in 2025 1 “From models to living systems, next-generation organoids are on the rise,” Charles River Laboratories declared in a December 4 post on its Eureka blog. “As drug discovery and development accelerate the adoption of NAMs, organoids themselves are entering a transformative era,” added Tània Martiáñez Canales, PhD, senior scientist, and Ludovico Buti, PhD, senior research leader. Immune and vascular-competent tumor organoids now capture the full complexity of the tumor microenvironment, while recent liver organoid models now approach the quality of transplant-grade tissues by exhibiting complete metabolic zonation, recapitulating the three liver’s metabolic zones, and even organ-specific vasculature. In November, Charles River committed to “evaluating opportunities to enhance its scientific capabilities” in NAMs while refining its portfolio to maximize financial performance and divest underperforming or non-core assets. |
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5. Corning (Life Sciences segment) Revenue: $972 million in 2025 Corning offerings for organoid development include a software extension enabling Corning Cell Counter® operators to capture rapid data of 3D cell cultures based on the structure’s morphology, to the company’s Corning® Matrigel® Matrix, a solubilized basement membrane preparation used as a scaffold option to support cell expansion in organoid cultures, and Matrigel Matrix 3D plates. Matrigel and a Corning 96-well round-bottom ultra-low adhesion plate were among supplies from numerous companies used by researchers at Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany, in creating a West Nile virus encephalitis model using human cerebral organoids generated with male induced pluripotent stem cells—an effort detailed in a paper published March 7 in Nature Communications. |
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1 2025 revenue consists of the 12 months ending December 27, 2025 |
Top 5 Private Companies |
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1. Emulate Total Capital Raised: $250 million Emulate partnered with FujiFilm Cellular Dynamics in November to launch the Emulate Brain-Chip R1, a first-in-class isogenic model of the neurovascular unit designed to offer researchers a new platform for studying drug transport across the blood-brain barrier, as well as investigating mechanisms of neuroinflammation. Brain-Chip R1 integrates FujiFilm’s iCell® products co-cultured with Emulate’s induced Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells. In June, Emulate commercially introduced the AVA |
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2. Prellis Biologics Total Capital Raised: “More than” $88 million Prellis Biologics has combined its EXIS |
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3. InSphero Total Capital Raised: $63.5 million 1 Swiss-based InSphero, in February, joined PharmaNest to launch a translational fibrosis partnership of undisclosed value, through which the companies will apply machine learning tools in combination with human preclinical models to decipher complex pathological phenotypes toward the identification of effective therapies. The collaboration combines InSphero’s advanced 3D spheroid models with PharmaNest’s high-resolution, single-fiber digital pathology, with the aim of enabling AI-assisted, precise phenotyping of fibrosis severity and remodeling for liver fibrosis in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and other fibrotic 3D in-vitro models. Also in February, InSphero completed its acquisition for an undisclosed price of Doppl and its Sun Bioscience Gri3D® organoid culture platform. “For our customers, this acquisition means access to an even broader, more integrated portfolio of scalable 3D cell culture plates and organoid technologies designed to work seamlessly together,” InSphero CEO and co-founder Jan Lichtenberg, PhD, stated on LinkedIn. |
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4. CN Bio Total Capital Raised: $60 million CN Bio isn’t an organoid company per se, but it told GEN its organ-on-a-chip (OOC) technology is positioned to improve the human accuracy and predictivity of organoid workflows. CN Bio recommends supplementing organoids with OOC cultures designed to represent 3D tissues with more human-relevant spatial organization: “Supplementing organoid use with OOC provides the means to further advance workflows by unlocking the ability to detect deeper mechanistic insights, more complex and latent effects that may otherwise be missed,” Emily Richardson, PhD, a lead scientist on CN Bio’s R&D team, wrote on the company’s blog. In October, CN Bio launched PhysioMimix® Core, an all-in-one OOC microphysiological system (MPS) designed to be the first OOC solution to deliver validated performance across single-organ, multi-organ, and higher-throughput configurations. |
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5. Inventia Life Science Total Capital Raised: AU$65 million ($46.5 million) Inventia Life Science’s RASTRUM |
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1 Figure published by PitchBook. At deadline, InSphero had not responded to GEN queries seeking to confirm the total capital raised figure. |
The post Top 10 Organoid Companies appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Background: Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) rely on sustainable and interoperable IT infrastructures to support coordination, data management, and long-term collaboration across geographically distributed primary care practices. Large federated initiatives, such as the German DESAM-ForNet (Initiative of German Practice-Based Research Networks) program, face substantial sociotechnical challenges, as diverse user groups, heterogeneous local systems, and multiple governance levels must align around shared digital solutions. Objective: The aim of this study was to design and evaluate a participatory, consensus-driven process for developing a sustainable and interoperable IT solution that supports the coordination of multiple regional PBRNs, and to identify the sociotechnical factors that influence how such a process unfolds. Methods: A qualitative participatory multimethod design combined an iterative consensus-based IT development process in a central working group, interdisciplinary domain-driven design workshops (N=40 stakeholders from 6 PBRNs), and qualitative content analysis of internal documents (2020‐2025). Members of the IT working group were nominated by networks based on IT responsibility and strategic involvement; workshop participants represented general practitioners, study nurses, researchers, and coordinators. Documents (meeting minutes, workshop artifacts, and decision logs) were coded inductively by 2 authors to trace sociotechnical dynamics and decision trajectories. Results: The analysis revealed pronounced differences in IT ambitions, resources, and established practices across the 6 PBRNs (ranging from 2 to 90 person-months), which resulted in divergent expectations and uneven readiness for joint development. This heterogeneity—spanning objectives from simple REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture; Vanderbilt University) databases to comprehensive digitization strategies—necessitated network-specific bounded contexts within a federated architecture. Through iterative development, stakeholders reached consensus on 6 core use cases (base data management, screening or recruitment processes, study or event participation tracking, management of event participation, accreditation procedures, and standardized communication or data exchange) and 2 national proofs-of-concept: quarterly key performance indicator reporting and pseudonymized practice queries based on a shared core dataset. This collaborative process culminated in a 3-tier practice relationship management infrastructure that integrates local autonomy with central metadata management and connectors to the Medical Informatics Initiative and REDCap, and was endorsed by the steering committee as a scalable compromise balancing interoperability and data sovereignty. Conclusions: The study shows that developing a national, interoperable IT infrastructure for PBRNs depends as much on social and organizational alignment as it does on technical solutions. Iterative participatory collaboration, transparent governance, and early stakeholder engagement were essential for building shared understanding and trust. Strengthening these relational and organizational elements will be crucial for sustaining future implementation efforts and fully realizing the potential of federated data infrastructures in primary care research.
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Background: Individuals with one or more socially stigmatized identities experience extensive health disparities, resulting in poorer health outcomes. However, most studies consider the effects of only individual stigmatized identities. Objective: We aimed to quantitatively estimate the additive and multiplicative effects of stigmatized identities on self-reported overall health. Methods: We used survey data from 387,411 participants in the All of Us Research Program, which has assembled a disease-agnostic cohort intended to reflect the US population, to statistically estimate the first- and second-order effects of 47 stigmatized identities on self-reported overall health. We used a linear model to estimate the effects of individual and pairwise stigmas on self-ratings of overall health. Results: We began by aiming to create cohorts for all 93 stigmatized identities previously found to affect health, of which 47 (51%) could be practicably examined. We first modeled individual stigmas alone to contrast the results with those that included both individual and pairwise stigmas. After using the false discovery rate to adjust for testing multiple hypotheses in the collective model, 29 individual and 116 pairs of stigmas had statistically significant effects on self-reported overall health. All significant individual effects were negative or neutral except for skin cancer. Those with the largest negative effect on self-rated overall health were difficulty walking or climbing stairs, unemployed or unable to work, difficulty with errands, and low educational attainment. Pairs of intersecting stigmas had a mix of negative and positive incremental effects, indicating that some stigmatized identities are negative modifiers, such as depression, and other combinations are less negative than the sum of their individual negative effects, such as having difficulty with multiple types of activities of daily living. The individual stigmas with the largest number of statistically significant stigma pairs were unemployed or unable to work (14/47, 30%); depression and low income (11/47 each, 24%); and difficulty walking or climbing stairs, cognitive difficulties, obesity, and skin cancer (8/47 each, 17%). Conclusions: Taken together, numerous pairs of stigmatized identities significantly affect self-reported overall health. While each stigmatization has both direct and indirect effects on health, the relative importance of direct and indirect effects will vary. Many of these are aligned with prior literature, and others warrant further exploration. While the large sample size of this study is a strength, we were unable to model higher-order intersectionality and encourage future research exploring this. The individual and pairwise identities with significant negative effects should be incorporated into research and clinical care by considering the multidimensionality of individuals and how that affects their overall health.
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For most people, February in Florida means school breaks, water parks, and trips to Disney. But for the genomics community, that combination means the season of big announcements as the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology (AGBT) meeting—which has earned a reputation for breaking field-shaping news—takes place. The meeting is packed not only with technology announcements in the sponsor suites, but also with scientific talks in the sessions to showcase how the technology is being used to address new biological questions.
The first piece of news was the weather. Not in Orlando, although it was uncharacteristically cold. But for the nail-biting attendees traveling from the Northeast who were watching the prediction of inches of snow grow with each forecast. Those of us who bumped up our flights to beat the storm and make some of the last flights out of the Northeast were lucky enough to arrive in time for the opening session.
The meeting was, as usual, a constant stream of announcements and advancements. Some grumbled that the meeting was slower than usual, but that seems unfounded to this attendee. One NGS company launched two new instruments just two years after its first instrument; the very first 3D spatial instrument was launched commercially, while other spatial news showed a maturing of the field. Many attendees could not stop talking about some of the research presented—including the “bat talk” given by Emma Teeling, PhD, from the University College Dublin, during the opening session (which was officially named, “Bats: new models of extended healthspan and disease resistance”).
Also included in the opening session was an award presentation to Eric Green, MD, PhD, the former National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) director. Green was sorely missed at last year’s 25th anniversary meeting because he (and many others working at the NHGRI and NIH) were not in attendance due to travel restrictions on government staff. A short time later, Green’s 15-year stint at the NHGRI was terminated, becoming the first of multiple NIH directors to be ousted by the Trump administration. But now, Green has completed his transition from government work to a new role as Illumina’s CMO. However, this transition also means that Green can no longer serve as a program committee co-chair for the AGBT General Meeting, which he has done for over 25 years, making the Distinguished Service Award a fitting end to his tenure. The meeting, Green noted on LinkedIn, has “always been about charting a course for the future.”
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) dominated the buzz at the meeting this year. Ultima Genomics made news just before the meeting started, revealing two new instruments: the UG 200 single-wafer and the UG 200 Ultra dual-wafer. Both boxes are less expensive and have higher throughput than the original iteration—the UG 100. Gilad Almogy, PhD, Ultima’s CEO, told GEN that the UG 200 series is more mature because it has been developed through “a ton of learning of how [the UG 100] performed in the field.” But it was a quick learning cycle, as the UG 100 was only launched in 2024.
In contrast, AGBT attendees had to wait patiently for the most anticipated news from the meeting: Roche filling in missing details about its sequencing by expansion (SBX) nanopore instrument, the Axelios. The company’s lunch talk was scheduled on the last day of the meeting, with many people rolling their luggage around in preparation to depart. Roche had already announced the cost of the Axelios instrument at $750,000, but the pricing for the consumables and the launch date remained unknown. Roche did offer some information, announcing a whole genome price of $150 (in duplex mode), a simplex price of $0.06 per million reads, and availability sometime this summer. A few new, notable discussion points were raised, including the length and complexity of the duplex sequencing library prep.
Illumina, the gold sponsor of the meeting, doubled down on its multiomics theme by presenting a complete multiomics workflow with a focus on the company’s longer read TruPath product. The kit, which uses an on-flow cell library preparation to obtain long-read insights, was first presented in 2024 as constellation mapped read technology. In short, the DNA spans multiple wells that are spaced under 100 nm apart. The DNA is fixed and then undergoes clustering and sequencing, connected throughout the DNA molecule. TruPath enables haplotyping, structural variant detection, and short tandem repeat analysis, which Steve Barnard, PhD, CTO of Illumina, said is “creating a new category of sequencing and giving the insights we need to diagnose patients.” The company emphasized TruPath’s ease of use during their talk by including a photo of Green using it at the bench and noting that it is so easy, even an executive can use it.
Element Biosciences did not wait until AGBT to reveal its latest innovation. The company announced its new high-throughput benchtop sequencing system, VITARI, in a webinar the week before the conference. The company noted that the instrument will begin shipping in the second half of 2026 and had a roadmap that included future multiomic capabilities.
In other industry news, Complete Genomics confirmed that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Swiss Rockets AG, a Switzerland-based life sciences group. This move splits the company from Chinese ownership by MGI/BGI, and it will become a subsidiary of the Swiss life sciences group. Rade Drmanac, PhD, Complete’s co-founder and CSO, told GEN that this news allows the company to continue its focus on NGS instrumentation but also grow the focus into applications.
Despite the wave of high-profile NGS announcements, spatial biology held its ground as a major focus at AGBT with updates reinforcing the technology’s maturity and expansion into new areas.
Vizgen announced updates on its MERSCOPE Ultra platform, including expanding its portfolio of predesigned panels and introducing a new customization capability. In addition, the company covered upcoming workflow innovations for upstream sample preparation and downstream bioinformatics. But perhaps the coolest update was the company’s work on organoids—a field where spatial analysis has proven challenging. Several characteristics of Vizgen’s platform are now enabling spatial analysis of organoids.
Singular Genomics’ new G4X Spatial Sequencer was on display in its suite, which the company launched the week before the meeting. At AGBT, the G4X platform was featured in a talk on SPOT-Met (Spatial Predictors of Tropism and Metastasis) by Jiwoon Park, PhD, from the lab of Christopher Mason, PhD, at Weill Cornell Medicine. SPOT-Met is a 1,000-tumor colorectal cancer program described as the largest colorectal cancer multimodal spatial initiative. “Population-scale spatial has arrived and is on center stage at AGBT 2026,” said Mason.
Attendees who visited the Stellaromics suite, which many did, judging from the activity, were encouraged to forget about 2D spatial and start thinking 3D. A Boston-based AGBT newcomer, Stellaromics is leading the 3D spatial wave with the launch of the first 3D commercially available spatial imager—the Pyxa. Although it may have been Stellaromics’ first time in Florida for the meeting, the company is led by genomics veteran Todd Dickinson, PhD (previously from Illumina, Bionano, Dovetail Genomics), who is no stranger to AGBT.
Last year, Bruker Spatial Biology established its place as a contender in the spatial world, just one year after the NanoString acquisition. This year, the company solidified its place as a leader by launching two products that it spoke about last year: CellScape (for spatial proteomics) and PaintScape (for visualization of the 3D genome). It also noted the mouse whole transcriptome for the CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager with 64 proteins. The technology was highlighted in multiple talks, including that of Miranda Orr, PhD, from Washington University, as she delved into the world of 3D reconstruction of neuropathology in the Alzheimer’s brain.
Although 10x Genomics is typically a top-tier sponsor at AGBT, the company was relatively quiet this year. However, it still managed to create buzz by delivering chocolate bars to each attendee’s hotel room stamped with a date: 4/18/26. Mid-April falls at the beginning of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting, leaving something to look forward to.
BD Biosciences (now Waters) made a strong presence in the single-cell multiomics space with a focus on multimodal cellular profiling using its Rhapsody System. The new roadmap for this system piqued interest. In addition, the new hire of spatial veteran Luciano Martelotto, PhD, as director of global market development (single cell), working in the suite from morning until night, helped highlight the company’s place at the meeting.
Newcomer Syndex Bio introduced its mcPCR (methyl-copying PCR) platform, which enables copying of both DNA and methylation during amplification. Codetta Bio’s Concerto multiomic system, which detects DNA, RNA, and protein biomarkers in a single run, became commercially available (after being introduced at AACR last year), and the company spoke about the upcoming launch of new customizable panels for immunology and neuroscience.
In other innovative technologies, Gary Schroth, PhD, CSO of Cellanome, presented the company’s CellCage technology for the first time, which can study cells to understand their history and collect transcriptome data over time. Schroth showed a video of glial cells phagocytosing bacteria, and measuring the functional changes with the cells’ gene expression changes. Volta Labs announced the expansion of the capabilities of its Callisto platform, collaborations with Roche and Watchmaker
Genomics, and unveiled a growing pipeline of applications rolling out through 2026.
And that is the real takeaway from AGBT: innovation does not stop when people fly home. All of these announcements, made over four days, are significant advances and the excitement is palpable. But the truth is, innovators in the genomics field continue to push the boundaries all year long. For those of us who are passionate about genomics, we will look forward to seeing what they’ll unveil next year.
The post AGBT 2026 Recap: NGS Big Bets and Spatial’s Rising Momentum appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Emulation System, a self-contained instrument designed to culture, incubate, and image up to 96 individual organ-chip samples or “Emulations” in a single run—as well as to deliver in vivo-level insights faster than animal models while cutting consumable costs fourfold and in-lab labor by half compared to current generation technologies.