NanoString to launch 3 new products for nCounter Analysis System at AACR 2012

NanoString Technologies, Inc., a privately held provider of life science tools for translational research and developer of molecular diagnostics, today announced that it will launch three new products for the nCounter^® Analysis System at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012, March 31-April 4, in Chicago, Ill. NanoString's suite of new products accelerates sample throughput for validation studies, enhances copy number studies using FFPE archival samples, and provides the latest content for human microRNA assays.    

The nCounter Plex² Expression Assay Kit increases the throughput of the nCounter system four-fold by using barcodes to multiplex in two dimensions, across both samples and mRNA targets. This assay allows nCounter users to measure up to 200 targets in up to four samples in a single tube, thus enabling validation studies with large sample numbers to be run more much rapidly on the nCounter system. Researchers can now run 192 samples per day with the standard nCounter instrumentation and up to 384 samples per day with the addition of a second prep station. The Plex² kit provides the same sensitivity, specificity and FFPE compatibility as NanoString's standard assay.

The nCounter Cancer Copy Number Assay Kit enables precise analysis of 86 genes that are commonly amplified or deleted in many cancer types, including: PIK3CA, AKT, PTEN, BRCA, and MYC. It is optimized for analysis of FFPE samples and maintains the trademark ease-of-use of all other nCounter assays.

The nCounter Human v2 miRNA Expression Assay Kit updates NanoString's most popular miRNA expression kit with content from miRBase 18. The kit allows investigators to profile 800 of the most highly expressed miRNAs in a single tube without the need for amplification. NanoString's nCounter miRNA panels are the only products capable of multiplexing hundreds of miRNAs in a single reaction without amplification, and offer superior specificity and sensitivity at a lower cost than microarrays and next-generation sequencing.

"This suite of new products demonstrates our continuing commitment to providing researchers with powerful tools for probing cancer biology," said Barney Saunders, Ph.D., Chief Commercial Officer of NanoString Technologies. "The nCounter system provides high-throughput, amplification-free, digital quantification of precious FFPE samples, and is perfectly suited for large-scale, pathway-based translational research and biomarker validation."

The nCounter Analysis System is a fully automated, multi-application digital detection and counting system with a very simple workflow. The assay kits contain all of the reagents and consumables needed to conduct an experiment. Minimal sample input requirements and compatibility with a variety of sample types, including FFPE, make it a particularly attractive solution for cancer research. NanoString provides assays for copy number variation, gene expression and miRNA analysis.