10x Genomics, Inc. announced a collaboration with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to analyze tumor samples from patients with major solid cancer types to uncover biological features associated with treatment response, resistance and disease progression. The company also announced plans to establish a CLIA-certified laboratory. Together, these efforts mark the beginning of a multi-year research initiative to incorporate single cell and spatial tumor analysis into potential diagnostic workflows to support cancer patient care.
The study with Dana-Farber intends to examine samples from hundreds of patients to evaluate therapeutic targets and relevant tumor microenvironment features for the most promising emerging therapies in oncology, including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), radioligand therapies (RLTs), bispecific antibodies, immune checkpoint inhibitors and other precision approaches. These treatments are reshaping the standard of care, yet patients can experience dramatically different outcomes. By understanding why patients respond differently to the same treatments, this research initiative may eventually help clinicians optimize therapy accordingly and move beyond current assays to capture the cellular ecosystems, immune activity and spatial context that influence how tumors respond to treatment.
Using 10x's Chromium Flex single cell assay and Xenium spatial platform, the investigators will generate molecularly detailed maps of tumors that integrate both cellular composition and spatial architecture. By pairing these profiles with known clinical outcomes, the collaboration aims to reveal the biological features that distinguish patients who benefit from treatment from those who do not. Additionally, 10x and Dana-Farber will collaborate in defining actionable biomarkers for future clinical reporting, exploring how spatial and single cell insights, such as target expression patterns, immune contexture or indicators of therapeutic sensitivity, could be summarized in a format designed to support oncologists as they navigate increasingly complex treatment decisions.
In parallel with this scientific collaboration, 10x's planned CLIA laboratory build-out will provide the regulated infrastructure needed for assay implementation, analytical validation and clinical sample processing, and also create the critical infrastructure necessary to deploy innovative diagnostic services for future clinical use. This collaboration marks the beginning of a multi-year research effort through which 10x will collaborate with leading institutions to generate the scientific evidence needed to develop the clinical potential of single cell and spatial technologies. Additional studies and collaborations are planned, each contributing to the foundational work required to develop potential clinical tests in the future.
