Arc Institute expands virtual cell atlas with industry partnerships

Arc Institute continues its work to generate and share large-scale, high-quality datasets of cell state before and after chemical or genetic perturbations to enable "virtual cell" models and other innovations. Two months after launching the Arc Virtual Cell Atlas comprising over 300 million cells, the initiative is now benefiting from new partnerships with 10x Genomics and Ultima Genomics, industry leaders in advanced tools that make collecting single cell data faster, more scalable, and more affordable for scientists working to improve human health.

"By combining Arc's expertise with 10x and Ultima's cutting-edge technologies, we will be able to generate high-quality, perturbational single-cell data at scale," said Arc Executive Director, Co-Founder, and Core Investigator Silvana Konermann. "We're excited to make this resource available to the scientific community so that these datasets can inform the most accurate models possible."

Leveraging 10x's high-resolution single-cell analysis platforms, particularly its Chromium Flex technology, Arc researchers will be able to generate perturbational data at unprecedented scale and quality. The technology makes it possible to simultaneously examine millions of perturbed individual cells at the lowest per-cell cost and highest resolution. 

"GEM-X Flex was built to meet the demands of today's most ambitious biological questions-delivering high-quality single-cell data at scale and at a cost that makes large-scale exploration feasible," said Serge Saxonov, CEO of 10x Genomics. "We are excited to enable the creation of increasingly powerful AI models in biology to accelerate scientific discovery and transform drug development."

Arc will leverage Ultima's UG 100 sequencing system and its recently launched Solaris chemistry to scale up its next phase of data generation and Atlas expansion. Ultima's unique wafer-based sequencing architecture and novel chemistry will enable Arc researchers to generate significantly more data and at lower cost than alternative approaches. The UG 100 platform has been validated by Arc to work seamlessly, and generate high-quality data at scale when used in combination with 10x's GEM-X Flex. Furthermore, Arc researchers will gain access and utilize UG 100 Solaris Boost, a new high-throughput operating mode currently available in Early Access, to further increase data output. 

"Our unique sequencing technology was designed to scale far beyond conventional approaches to lower the cost of genomic information and enable data generation at scale," said Gilad Almogy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Ultima Genomics. "Emerging AI/ML applications such as large-scale perturbation data sets and virtual cells atlases highlight the enabling benefits of our technology and low-cost sequencing. We are grateful to work with Arc and 10x Genomics to advance the development of these resources to accelerate scientific discovery and advance our understanding of biology's complexity."

Arc is continuing to build the Atlas through additional collaborations to bring in single-cell data from other partners and research efforts. The goal is to provide a long-standing resource for machine learning efforts transforming biology.

At Arc, we're developing tools that can predict which perturbations would be effective to return a diseased cell to a healthy state. Instead of the guess-and-check approach that dominates experimental biomedicine today, a predictive 'world model' of the cell could help narrow the focus to the most promising therapeutic targets."

Patrick Hsu, Arc Co-Founder and Core Investigator