Provides the world's most advanced mass cytometer for simultaneous detection of 50 proteins from a single cell
First of all, please tell us about your business.
The Company is a Japanese branch of research equipment and reagent sales company headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Our main business is the sales and after-sales service of analytical instruments and consumables for research purposes. Our analyzers include multi-sample and multi-item analyzers centered on PCR systems, and a mass-site meter called CyTOF, which can simultaneously detect multiple proteins from a single cell. Currently, we have offices in Nihonbashikodenmacho and have established a lab at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai to actually operate mass cytometers.
Your product is known as the state-of-the-art equipment, but what are the technical characteristics of it?
Our mass cytometer is characterized by simultaneous detection of 50 types of proteins in a single measurement. When examining the types of proteins expressed in cells and their expression status, we visualize them using antibodies that specifically bind to each protein. In our case, 50 metals were used as identification markers to realize simultaneous measurement of 50 proteins. More comprehensive analysis is possible compared to conventional methods using fluorescent dyes as identification markers (10 to 20 proteins can be detected in a single measurement).
In what situations are your products being used?
Our main customers are academia and pharmaceutical companies in Japan, but recently they have been widely used for research purposes in the field of cancer immune systems. It has been found that the mainstream immune checkpoint inhibitors are divided into patients who have high therapeutic effects and those who have low therapeutic effects. Therefore, research has been progressing around the world to investigate the cells of patients with different therapeutic effects to explore the expression of proteins (biomarkers) strongly correlated with therapeutic effects, and our mass cytometer is active in the search. If it leads to the discovery of markers that can predict therapeutic effects in advance, more efficient cancer immunotherapy is expected to be achieved.
We want to combine our analytical equipment with AI to achieve "unforeseen discoveries even researchers"
What kind of activities are being carried out at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai?
Mitsui Link Lab Kasai provides a commissioned analysis service for mass cytometers as a "test" from the perspective of making the company aware of its technical capabilities. We also support laboratory tours, and if you visit us, we will have you see the actual mass cytometer in operation, and we will also conduct a demonstration of cell analysis using the samples you bring. In that regard, it also functions as a showroom.
Please tell us about your future prospects.
First of all, through our activities at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai, we hope to provide Japanese researchers with the opportunity to feel closer to our technology. The laboratory tour is currently only about once every two to three months, but in the future we will invite academia and pharmaceutical companies to Mitsui Link Lab Kasai to test their experiments and provide them with the opportunity to learn that they can achieve more than expected results.
In the future, we would like to combine our equipment with artificial intelligence to further expand the market. In the past, researchers only observed changes in molecules that have been observed in advance, but if dozens of changes can be measurable at the same time, like our mass cytometer, there is a high possibility that changes that researchers will not expect will occur, and by using AI technology, it will be possible to discover all changes throughout. Currently, the development of multivariate analysis using AI technology (a method of analyzing the relevance of multiple data and analyzing comprehensive interpretations) is progressing around the world, and we expect that the number of situations where our equipment will be more active in the future.
The characteristic of Mitsui Link Lab is that it understands the challenges of the lab without explaining it.
Where was the decisive factor in opening our own lab at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai?
Originally, our base is in Nihonbashikodenmacho, but from the beginning we wanted to open a lab separately from our offices. However, since the installation of exhaust heat ducts is indispensable for the operation of the mass cytometer, and the handling of cells for analysis, it is not possible to say that the location is good anywhere. Therefore, when I was looking for a candidate site, I learned about the existence of Mitsui Link Lab Kasai. Mitsui Link Lab Kasai is familiar with what is needed in research and what the lab needs, making it a key point for us to move in.
What kind of impression do you have when you actually opened a lab?
I think it is a great thing about Mitsui Link Lab that you can understand the situation immediately without having to give detailed explanations about businesses that are different from general companies such as our company. For example, you are familiar with the lab-specific circumstances, such as the rules for disposing of infectious waste, and if you consult with the management staff via email, you will return a reply immediately. There is no sharpness to mention all of them, but since we always respond to various issues in our daily work as usual, we have created an environment where we can work on daily work as usual.
Lastly, please tell us your expectations for Mitsui Link Lab.
We look forward to planning events that will make more people aware of our activities. In particular, in our case, we aim not only to sell analytical instruments, but also to serve as a partner who can engage in broad discussions with researchers and share information with each other. To do so, it is necessary for more researchers to visit Mitsui Link Lab Kasai to see the equipment. In addition, if there is an exchange meeting between companies that live in the same lab, I would like to actively participate. By understanding each other's work through exchange meetings, I would like to lead to further leaps.