The Opportunity in the Marketplace

Flow cytometry is a recognized means of single cell enumeration and identification in a real-time high-throughput manner. These high-throughput systems are used throughout the field of medicine to:

     • Allow clinicians to provide patient-specific diagnoses
     • Help researchers investigate the genesis of disease, and
     • Aid pharmaceutical companies in the development and validation of new medicines.

Though it is extremely desirable to determine biomarker differences in cells from an individual patient as well as clinical patient-to-patient variances of cell populations, simultaneous analysis of a large number of proteins among individual cells has not been possible. Such a multi-parameter approach applied at high throughput, would allow for diagnosis of rare (diseased, progenitor or stimulated) cells in complex samples and aid in the development of personalized treatment regimens. 

The Solution Provided by Genomics

The CyTOFâ„¢ instrument addresses applications typically run by flow cytometer analyzers but extends the capability to an amazing 100 simultaneous parameters. This revolutionary mass cytometry technology offers the specificity, dynamic range and quantitative capability of mass spectrometry in a format familiar to flow cytometry practitioners.

CyTOFâ„¢ addresses an urgent need for expanded detection and characterization of cancer cells. It provides improved diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity for leukemia and other diseases that are often misdiagnosed or diagnosed too late due to the small number of markers used in detection.  The CyTOFâ„¢ instrument can be currently shown to simultaneously assay 35 antigen expression markers on leukemia cell lines and patient samples, limited only by the current stock of enriched stable isotope tags that can be attached to antibodies.

The Company

DVS Sciences Inc. was founded in 2004 by a research team that previously led the elemental mass spectrometry program at MDS Sciex. The DVS team has more than 90 years combined experience in the commercial development and application of analytical instrumentation.

The CyTOFâ„¢ technology was validated with beta instruments sold into leading laboratories. The formal launch of the CyTOFâ„¢ instrument as a commercial product occurred in October 2009 and the associated MAXPARâ„¢ Reagent products became available in early 2009. Commercial sales to date exceed $2.5 million from the sale of 3 CyTOFâ„¢ machines and over 100 reagent kits. DVS Sciences Inc. projects sales of $115 million by 2015. The estimated global market for these types of analytical instruments and complementation reagents is $3.6 billion.

The Scientists

Dr. Scott Tanner, President of DVS Sciences, leads the engineering and business development program at the company. He also pilots the StemSpec research group at the University of Toronto that seeks to improve the mass cytometer and tagging technologies. Dr. Tanner’s scientific awards include the Manning Innovation Foundation Award of Distinction in 2001 and the W.A.E. McBryde medal in 2003. In 2008 he joined the Editorial Board of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (Royal Society of Chemistry).  He currently acts as the Chair of the Ontario Chapter of the Manning Innovation Foundation.

Dr. John Dick is a Senior Scientist in the Division of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network.  He is also a Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Toronto. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology. Dr. Dick has received numerous honours and awards including the Robert L. Noble Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada, a Wellcome Trust Travel Award from United Kingdom’s Wellcome Trust global charity and the Michael Smith Award for Excellence from the Medical Research Council of Canada.

The Funding

These research endeavors are currently supported by Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation, Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute and other funding partners in Canada and internationally.

Learn More

Learn more about DVS Sciences here.

Learn more about these projects here and here and about resources associated with this and other large-scale genomics projects here.

Learn more about the Ontario Genomics Institute here.

Click on the icons below to read more stories about the power of genomics.