Provides the world's most advanced mass-site meter that simultaneously detects 50 proteins from one cell.
First of all, please tell us about your business.
We are a Japanese branch of research equipment and reagents, headquartered in San Francisco, United States. Our main business is the sale of analytical instruments and consumables, and after-sales service. Our analyzers include multi-sample and multi-item analyzers centered on PCR systems, and CyTOF, a mass-site meter that can simultaneously detect multiple proteins from a single cell. Currently, in addition to setting up an office in Nihonbashikodenmacho, Mitsui Link Lab Kasai has also opened a laboratory at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai, which is actually operating mass site meters.
Your product is known as a state-of-the-art equipment. Could you please tell us the technical features?
Our masssite meter is characterized by the ability to detect 50 types of proteins at the same time 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 types of metals were used as identification markers, we realized simultaneous measurement of 50 types of proteins. Compared to the conventional method of using fluorescent dyes for identification markers (10 to 20 types of proteins can be detected in a single measurement).
In what situations are your products being used?
The main customers are academia and pharmaceutical companies in Japan, but recently they have been widely used in research applications in the field of cancer immune system. Currently, the mainstream immune checkpoint inhibitors are divided into patients who have high therapeutic effects and those who have only low therapeutic effects. Therefore, research is progressing around the world to examine the cells of patients with different therapeutic effects and explore the expression of proteins (biomarkers) strongly correlated with therapeutic effects, and our mass cytometers are playing an active role in searching for them. If it leads to the discovery of markers that can predict therapeutic effects in advance, it is expected that more efficient cancer immunotherapy will be realized.
By combining our analytical instruments with AI, we want to achieve "unexpected discoveries even researchers."
What kind of activities are being carried out at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai?
Mitsui Link Lab Kasai offers a contract analysis service for mass cytometers as a "trial measure" from the perspective of letting people know our technological capabilities. We also support laboratory tours, and if you come to the venue, you will be able to see the actual mass site meter that is actually in operation, and a demonstration of cell analysis with the samples you bring. In that regard, it also serves as a showroom.
Could you tell us about your future prospects?
First of all, through activities at Mitsui Link Lab Kasai, we hope to provide Japanese researchers with the opportunity to become familiar with our technology. Currently, we will invite academia and pharmaceutical companies to Mitsui Link Lab Kasai to give them an opportunity to try their experiments and know that they can achieve more results than their expectations.
In the future, I would like to aim for further expansion of the market by combining our equipment and artificial intelligence. Previously, researchers observed only changes in molecules with eye stars in advance, but if dozens of changes can be measured at the same time, as in our mass-site meter, there is a high possibility that changes will not be expected by researchers, and AI technology can be used to discover all changes. The development of multivariate analysis (a method for analyzing the relevance of multiple data and analyzing comprehensive interpretations) is progressing around the world, and we anticipate that our equipment will play an active role in the future.
The feature of Mitsui Link Labour is that they understand the tasks of the lab without explaining them.
Where was the decisive factor in opening our own lab in Mitsui Link Lab Kasai?
Originally, our base was located in Nihonbashikodenmacho, but from the beginning we wanted to open a lab separately from our offices. However, the installation of exhaust heat ducts is essential to operate the mass cytometer, and because the cells are handled in analysis, it is not possible to place anywhere. So when I was looking for a candidate site, I knew the existence of Mitsui Link Lab Kasai. Mitsui Link Lab Kasai is familiar with what is needed in research and what the lab needs, and this is the key point for our company to move in.
What kind of impressions do you have when you actually opened the lab?
I think it is a great thing about Mitsui Link Lab to be able to understand the situation immediately without having to give detailed explanations. For example, if you are familiar with lab's unique circumstances, such as the rules for disposing of infectious waste, and if you consult with the operating staff via email, you will immediately return a reply. There is no sharpness to mention everything, but we always respond to various issues in daily work as usual, so we have created an environment where we can work on our daily work as usual.
Finally, please tell us your expectations for Mitsui Link Labour in the future.
We look forward to planning events that will make more people aware of our activities. Especially in the case of our company, we would like to aim to play a role as a partner that allows us to discuss a wide range of discussions with researchers and share information with each other. To this end, it is necessary for more researchers to visit Mitsui Link Lab Kasai and see the equipment. In addition, if there is an exchange meeting between companies living 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 a further leap.