Tethis S.p.A announces the release of See.d, the first universal blood sample preparator for liquid biopsy analysis. This innovative technology performs a completely automated and standardized preparation of a blood sample at the point of blood collection. Cellular fraction is gently stabilized on proprietary, nanocoated SBS slides for rare cell detection, including CTCs, while plasma is made available for the analysis of cell-free content.
See.d is for professional use but does not require specialized lab technicians and most importantly there is no need of whole blood shipment and preservation, one of the most critical points of liquid biopsy pre-analytical workflows. See.d® processes fresh blood collected in EDTA tubes shortly after collection (within 4 to 6 hours) favoring maximum sample integrity. All sample preparation steps are automated: separation of plasma from the cellular fraction, red blood cells lysis and removal, white blood cells dispensation and fixation on SBS slides and plasma recovery in tubes. At the end of the process, SBS slides with a fixed monolayer of all white blood cells are made available, and the relative plasma aliquot is provided in a separate tube. Both specimens are perfectly stable for several days, having received minimum manipulation, contamination or shear stress before stabilization.
The platform will be showcased at the upcoming Liquid Biopsy conference organized by the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) in Bergamo, Italy, from May 24th to 26th.
“This is a key development milestone not just for Tethis but hopefully for liquid biopsy adoption” said Mr. Gian Martino Franchi, Chief Technology Officer of the company. “We have leveraged on our proprietary nanocoated slides that allow immediate, spontaneous and gentle adhesion of normally non adherent cells, to develop a fully automated platform that not only fixes all white blood cells for enrichment-free rare cell detection, but also provides a perfectly stable plasma fraction for cell-free content analysis, allowing to have an optimal preparation of all relevant content for liquid biopsy testing. This is a first of its kind, and we trust that it can contribute to the long-awaited standardization of blood processing for liquid biopsies. We’ve been closely working with our partner MACS srl for the development of this first release, and we have already started planning the next generation platform that will further enhance easiness of use, efficiency and throughput”