10x Genomics Continues Clinical Push With Swiss Cancer Collab: Newsletter July 28, 2026
FDA Approves Freenome SimpleScreen test, papers on the “4D Nucleome,” Illumina Pays $30M more for SomaLogic, and more.
10x Genomics has launched a multi-year research collaboration with Switzerland’s Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) to study whether single-cell and spatial biology data can predict how cancer patients will respond to treatment.
Announced today, the study will use 10x’s Flex Apex single-cell assay and Xenium and Atera spatial technologies to examine tumor samples from cancer patients to identify biomarkers that could predict prognosis and response to treatment. Researchers will combine these data with clinical outcomes data to see how patients respond to treatments like antibody-drug conjugates in several solid tumor types, including non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, and melanoma.
Of course, the ultimate aim is to develop diagnostics based on 10x’s technology and the deal is the latest in 10x’s push towards the clinic. The past year or so has seen the company strike multiple deals to that end, including with the Cleveland Clinic, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and others.
How much 10x is investing in this study isn’t yet clear; the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other genomics news
Standard BioTools Gets $30M Illumina Buyout Ahead of Treeline Merger
Standard BioTools has received approximately $30 million from Illumina as part of the $350 million deal for assets associated with SomaLogic, completed in January.
FDA Approves Freenome's SimpleScreen CRC Blood Test
The FDA has approved Freenome’s SimpleScreen CRC, a blood-based screening test for colorectal cancer in adults 45 and older at average risk.
UC Riverside Lab Lands $2.1M NIH Grant to Decode Stress-Response Circuits
The National Institutes of Health has awarded University of California, Riverside researcher Sonali Chaturvedi a five-year, $2.1 million grant to study how cells maintain stability while responding to environmental stress.
Lucid Genomics, Genetic Alliance Partner on Access to Rare Disease Analysis Software
Genetic Alliance and Germany’s Lucid Genomics have partnered to provide certain diagnostic laboratories free access to Lucid’s genomic analysis software.
NeoGenomics Q2 Revenues Rise 11 Percent, Company Raises Full-Year Guidance
NeoGenomics said on July 28 that its second quarter revenues rose 11 percent year over year.
Proteome analysis company Nautilus Biotechnology pushed back the release of its Broadscale assay after Q2 testing showed its assay configuration changes wouldn’t hit target specs for a wide 2027 launch. The company says it has identified fixes but didn’t commit to a new timeline. The company also announced second quarter revenue of $190,000 while its net loss was $14.5 million, or $.11 per share. Nautilus ended the quarter with $129.2 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments.
BillionToOne has appointed Ethan Dmitrovsky as chief medical officer. He will lead medical strategy for the company’s Northstar liquid biopsy portfolio. He joins BillionToOne from the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, where he served as Laboratory Director and President of Leidos Biomedical Research. He previously served as provost and executive VP at MD Anderson Cancer Center and as professor at Dartmouth College's [Dr. Seuss] School of Medicine. He holds an MD from Cornell University.
My Genomics Reading List
Science and Science Advances published on July 23 a collection of papers on spatial and temporal organization of the human genome that came out of the NIH 4D Nucleome program. “Researchers applied cutting-edge single-cell and multiomic technologies to map genome architecture across an unusually broad range of biological contexts: the aging and Alzheimer’s affected brain, the failing heart, developing cardiomyocytes, maturing B cells, and diverse tissues spanning the body,” journal editors Di Jiang, Yevgeniya Nusinovich, and Sarah Ross wrote in an introduction to the special issue. “Together, these studies reveal how genome folding contributes to cell identity, how it is perturbed in disease, and how epigenetic memory can be encoded in chromatin’s physical compaction.”
Zemke, N.R., Lee, S., Mamde, S., et al. “Epigenetic and 3D Genome Reprogramming During the Aging of the Human Hippocampus.” Science. July 23, 2026.
Grant, Z.L., Kuang, S., Zhang, S., et al. “Dose-Dependent Sensitivity of Human Three-Dimensional Chromatin to a Heart Disease–Linked Transcription Factor.” Science. July 23, 2026.
Cheng, Y., Wang, J., Zhang, Y., et al. “A 3D Genome Atlas of Human Tonsil and the Role of Loop Extrusion in B Cell Somatic Hypermutation.” Science. July 23, 2026.
Zhou, J., Wu, Y., Liu, H., et al. “Human Body Single-Cell Atlas of Three-Dimensional Genome Organization and DNA Methylation.” Science. July 23, 2026.
Xie, Y., Tucciarone, L., Farah, E.N., et al. “Single-Cell Multiomics and Chromatin Structure Reveal Gene-Regulatory Dynamics in Heart Failure.” Science. July 23, 2026.
Zhang, Y., Lu, X., Kunisky, A.K., et al. “Single-Cell Multiomics Connects 3D Genome and Transcriptome Alterations in Alzheimer’s Disease.” Science. July 23, 2026.
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A study in mice found that the organism’s genetic background strongly influenced cancer susceptibility and the types of mutations driving cancer progression. Germline genetics interacted with somatic driver mutations and influenced the expression of other cancer-related pathways, such as p53 signaling, and markers of genome instability.
Aitken et al. “Genetic background sets the trajectory of experimental cancer evolution.” Nature. 2026.
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“Using the model ProteinMPNN, we redesigned three distinct botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) proteases, generating variants with improved stability and full catalytic efficiency. We hypothesized that redesigned enzymes may be more mutationally robust than their wild-type (WT) counterparts, and therefore may serve as better starting points to evolve new function. …This study establishes a practical workflow using AI-redesigned starting points to evolve enzymes with improved properties compared with those evolved from natural proteins, with broad implications for protein science.”
Krasnow, N.A., Xu, J.A., Zhang, E. et al. “AI-redesigned starting points and outcomes enhance protein evolution.” Nature. July 22, 2026.
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“Here we present ContactSeek, an artificial-intelligence-driven framework that uses AlphaFold3 (AF3)-predicted contact probability to improve the specificity of genome editors. … our framework represents an AF3-driven model tailored for specificity improvement, establishing a paradigm for improving the precision of genome editing tools through the integration of structural and functional dimensions.”
Meng, H., Lei, Z., Yan, Y. et al. “Precise DNA base editing using AlphaFold3-based contact modelling.” Nature. 2026.
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