Illumina to Supply SBS Chemistry for Broad Spinout's Spatial Perturb-Seq Platform
A supply agreement gives Bifrost Biosystems access to Illumina's chemistry for its optical pooled screening platform, slated for commercial launch in early 2027.
Harvard University spinout Bifrost Biosystems has locked up commercial access to Illumina’s sequencing chemistry, clearing one of the last technical hurdles standing between its cell-screening platform and a planned 2027 launch.
Under a supply agreement announced July 8, Bifrost will integrate Illumina’s sequencing-by-synthesis chemistry into its optical pooled screening (OPS) platform. Illumina’s reagents will be packaged and distributed as part of Bifrost’s OPS-optimized reagent kits, supporting in situ genotyping workflows on Bifrost’s system.
OPS is a technology that links complex cellular phenotypes to the genetic perturbations responsible for them, allowing researchers to study large numbers of genetic changes at once. It is closely related to spatial perturbation screening approaches, as discussed in the Ion Genomics podcast from June 5, 2026.
Bifrost, a Berkeley, California-based company with approximately 10 employees, is a spinout from Johan Paulsson’s Harvard lab and licensed its core OPS technology from the Broad Institute in 2024. Additional cofounders include Broad researcher Paul Blainey and Harvard research George Church. The Illumina agreement is the company’s latest step toward commercializing the platform, which it said will support upcoming early-access collaborations with research institutions and biotechnology partners.
“This agreement represents an important validation of the maturity of the Bifrost platform,” Bifrost CEO Jonas Jarvius said in a statement. “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.”