NanoString Technologies, Inc. announced that it has secured an exclusive option from Massachusetts General Hospital to license intellectual property related to a novel approach for multiplexed protein analysis using the company's nCounter Analysis System. The nCounter Analysis System is an automated and easy-to-use platform that utilizes a novel digital barcoding chemistry to deliver high precision multiplexed assays across a number of important research applications including gene expression, copy number variation, and miRNA analysis. In the new publication, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital demonstrate a novel method that supports nCounter's potential for multiplexed protein analysis.

The researchers simultaneously analyzed 90 proteins at single-cell sensitivity, thereby measuring more markers on limited material than by using traditional immunohistochemistry. The researchers also demonstrated the method's ease-of-use, reproducibility, and compatibility with clinical applications, such as the profiling of fine-needle aspirate cancer samples.