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Agreement with leading life sciences company Illumina strengthens Bifrost’s path to commercial deployment of next-generation optical pooled screening technology.
BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#AIDrugDiscovery--Bifrost Biosystemstoday announced that it has secured a commercial supply agreement withIlluminaenabling integration of Illumina’s industry-standard sequencing-by-synthesis (SBS) chemistry into its optical pooled screening (OPS) platform slated to be commercially available in early 2027. OPS is a technology to link complex cellular phenotypes to the responsible genetic perturbation cost-effectively and at scale.
The agreement provides reliable access to high-performance sequencing chemistry that will be packaged and distributed as part of Bifrost’s OPS optimized reagent kits.
Access to robust, scalable sequencing chemistry is a critical component of translating OPS from a specialized academic capability into a broadly deployable research platform. This milestone strengthens Bifrost’s path toward commercial deployment and supports upcoming early-access collaborations with leading research institutions and biotechnology partners.
“This agreement represents an important validation of the maturity of the Bifrost platform,” said Jonas Jarvius, Chief Executive Officer of Bifrost Biosystems. “Securing commercial access to Illumina’s high-quality SBS chemistry enables us to deliver a fully integrated solution to our customers and accelerates our path toward widespread deployment of optical pooled screening.”
"This agreement brings the leading NGS chemistry to a purpose-built OPS platform that will provide Bifrost's customers with unprecedented data generation capabilities through scalable, end-to-end integrated, single-cell perturbation screening," said Dr. Paul Blainey, Bifrost co-founder and member of the board.
About Optical Pooled Screening
Optical pooled screening is rapidly emerging as a powerful tool for functional genomics, enabling researchers to measure complex cellular phenotypes and link them to the responsible genetic perturbation. Bifrost’s OPS platform is designed to dramatically expand access to this capability by combining advanced imaging, integrated fluidics, optimized chemistry and streamlined analytical pipelines.
With Illumina’s proven sequencing chemistry, Bifrost can now deliver reagent kits optimized for robustin situgenotyping workflows performed on its OPS system.
“Optical pooled screening has long been limited not by its biological potential, but by the practical challenges of executing reliable in situ readouts at scale,” said Paul Blainey, Co-Founder of Bifrost Biosystems and a pioneer in the development of OPS. “Standardizing access to high-quality sequencing chemistry within an integrated workflow is an important step toward making OPS a routine and scalable tool for biological discovery.”
Furthering its leadership position, Bifrost Biosystems is currently preparing for broader early-access deployments of the OPS platform to select research institutions and biotechnology companies.
About Bifrost Biosystems
Bifrost Biosystems is developing next-generation instrumentation and workflows for optical pooled screening, enabling researchers to link single-cell phenotypes to genotypes at unprecedented scale. The company’s platform integrates advanced imaging, microfluidics, and sequencing-based readouts to democratize high-content functional genomics.