As we quickly approach the end of 2021, it is only natural to reflect on the highs and lows of the year. COVID-19 remained an ever-present challenge and continues to reshape how we work together. Despite this hurdle, we are excited to highlight all of your great research leveraging the Tapestri Platform and showcase some of the accomplishments of Mission Bio. The company expanded its capabilities, welcomed new leadership, and enabled groundbreaking research. Here are a few of the highlights:
1. Welcoming a New CEO
In April Yan Zhang, Ph.D. joined Mission Bio as CEO. With a proven track record at Thermo Fisher Scientific and several other companies, Yan is now driving Mission Bio’s growth in cancer and advanced therapeutics. In addition to managing the accelerating growth of the business, Yan is dedicated to keeping Mission Bio steadfast in its mission: enabling the development of life-changing therapeutics. We are seeing a clear impact on the business with Yan at the helm, and we’re excited to see what’s in store in 2022.
2. Enabling Groundbreaking Research
This year, the Tapestri Platform enabled 17 peer-reviewed publications, including two in Nature, one in Nature Medicine, and three in Nature Communications. As more researchers are leveraging the power of single-cell DNA sequencing and multi-omics, new insights are emerging about cancer evolution, drug resistance, as well as the mechanisms of other diseases.
3. Expanded Capabilities
Mission Bio has expanded the capabilities of Tapestri, such that now a lower cell input can be used to gain insights about tumor heterogeneity. This improvement opens the door for researchers to utilize Tapestri when only small sample sizes are available, or when precious samples need to be conserved. Published panels for hematologic malignancies —which are developed by leaders in oncology and used in prominent publications — were also introduced, giving customers an expanded menu of options.
4. Entering the Arena of Cell and Gene Therapies
Another exciting development for the company was the introduction of its Cell and Gene Therapy Solutions. Now, Tapestri can be used to deeply characterize genetically modified cell therapeutics and even co-measure DNA and protein in the same cells. Yan Zhang gave an insightful talk at the Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa in October. Watch it here!
5. Serving Pharma with PAD
In order to better serve our pharma, biopharma, and biotech customers, Mission Bio developed the Pharm Assay Development, or simply “PAD.” The PAD team is dedicated to developing single-cell assays for our partners so they can develop safe and efficacious therapeutics quickly and successfully. Projects range from profiling tumors and detecting mechanisms of therapy resistance to characterizing genotypic and phenotypic attributes of cell therapies. With PAD, we help in every step of integrating single-cell analysis into therapeutic pipelines.
6. Penetration into Solid Tissue
For many years now, the Tapestri Platform has enabled the high-resolution profiling of hematological malignancies, like AML, MDS, and MPN. This year, more researchers investigated solid tissues using Tapestri analysis. For instance, Ren et al. (2021) explored the genetic architecture of cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) — vascular abnormalities that can cause strokes and seizures. Marin-Bejar (2021) looked at genetic and nongenetic mechanisms of resistance in melanoma. Just recently, Zhao et al. (2021) published in Nature on investigating the roots of resistance to KRAS inhibitors in lung cancer.
With these incredible developments over the past year, we are excited to hit the ground running in 2022. At Mission Bio, we are dedicated to bringing single-cell analysis to researchers and industry, so that new therapies can be developed and offer a better future to patients. Happy holidays to all, we will see you in the new year!
