New Spatial Company Maps Cell Surface Proteome without Imaging

Today we talk with Simon Fredriksson, CEO and co-founder of Pixelgen Technologies, a company just out of stealth offering spatial technology that maps cellular surface proteins at the single cell level. Called molecular pixelation, the breakthrough technology is designed to first target immune cells.

“There’s an intricate system of organization of the cell surface proteome to enable the formation of the immune synapse with many signals— inhibitory and costimulatory. And many of these signals are big drug targets in immuno-oncology and autoimmune disease. But no one has studied these at the single cell level and how they are organized together in one multiplexed reaction. So understanding this will lead us to develop better drugs and to have a better understanding of the immune system in general. I tell my friends that we still don’t really understand why COVID is such a big problem, why it is making some people very sick and others not so sick,” says Simon.

Unlike the product from most spatial companies, Pixelgen’s technology is not an instrument, nor does it use imaging, but rather comes as a kit designed for use with a DNA sequencer that will offer a new level of insight into cellular activity.

Simon was also a co-founder of the proteomics company, Olink, which we featured in December. He says it is not coincidental that Sweden delivers continuous innovation in the proteomics space as the country has a long history of firsts in protein science and tech development. We finish with Simon’s thoughts on the rapidly scaling proteomics space.