Epigenica Unveils Breakthrough Epigenetics Platform, Launches First Commercial ChIP-seq Kit for High-throughput, Multiplex Genome-wide Profiling

• EpiFinder™ Platform generates quantitative data at scale, with unprecedented speed and cost-efficiency
• EpiFinder Genome generates 192 genome-wide profiles by simultaneously targeting up to 8 markers in up to 24 samples or independent replicates

SOLNA, Sweden — Epigenica, a start-up bringing the first multiplex, high-throughput tools to epigenomic research, today unveiled its EpiFinder™ Platform with a patented high-throughput, multiplexing, quantitative ChIP-seq (hmqChIP-seq) technology and launched EpiFinder Genome for comprehensive genome-wide profiling. EpiFinder Genome, the company’s flagship product and the first commercial kit of its kind, simultaneously targets up to eight markers in up to 24 samples or independent replicates, generating quantitative data for in-depth insights into biomedical research, drug discovery and development, diagnostics, and precision medicine.

“We are incredibly excited today to share with the global scientific community our EpiFinder platform, a groundbreaking technology for epigenomic research, and to commercially launch EpiFinder Genome,” said Epigenica CEO and co-founder Mohamad Takwa, PhD. “The development of these technologies has been a true labor of love for our team and marks an important milestone for Epigenica as we advance our mission to bring unprecedented scale, speed, and affordability to the rapidly growing field of epigenetics.”

External factors, such as aging, the environment, and lifestyle, can play an essential role in how genes function by making long-lived chemical modifications, or epigenetic marks, to our DNA or histone proteins that wrap the DNA. While epigenetics holds great promise for basic science, drug discovery and development, diagnostics, and precision medicine, current technologies have shortcomings in speed and don’t produce quantitative data at scale, impeding innovation in the field.

Epigenica’s EpiFinder combines simultaneous multiplexing and high-throughput screening for the first time in one product, enabling researchers to streamline large-scale experiments and generate quantitative data at scale to advance discoveries. At its core is the hmqChIP-seq technology and proprietary LACODE (Ligation-sensitive Amplification with Coded Adaptor) adaptor design and barcoding technology, which significantly improves DNA barcoding.

“With the ability to generate quantitative data at scale, faster, and more cost-efficiently than ever before, EpiFinder overcomes critical barriers to epigenetics research, and we believe it will usher in a new era in epigenomics and scientific innovation,” said Epigenica co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Simon Elsässer, Ph.D.

EpiFinder Genome is the first product in the EpiFinder family, which will offer kits that scale from genome-wide detail with high sequencing depth to global quantifications based on low-depth sequencing. EpiFinder Genome generates 192 genome-wide profiles in a fraction of the time it takes to perform 192 parallel ChIP-seq experiments. It offers intrinsically quantitative comparisons across as many as eight markers in up to 24 samples or independent replicates. With superior barcoding capabilities, EpiFinder Genome reduces background noise and offers greater specificity compared to current state-of-the-art approaches. The kit also includes an open-source, custom-designed pipeline analysis software for analyzing the vast quantitative data generated from EpiFinder Genome.

Other features and benefits include:

• High-quality data
• Easy to use pooled workflow (3-day, 14-hour hands-on)
• 1 M cells/sample requirement for profiling up to 8 hPTMs
• Validated with cells and tissue
• Validated with native and fixed starting material
• Consistent, reproducible, and easy-to-interpret results

“The EpiFinder Genome kit offers an excellent opportunity for labs with limited previous experience in ChIP-seq or similar methods to obtain high-quality ChIP-seq data – without significant time investment,” says beta tester Björn Reinius, Associate Professor at the Karolinska Institute with a research focus on X-chromosome inactivation. “With minimal optimization, the well-described steps enable users to generate quantitative ChIP-seq libraries and to perform preliminary data analyses.”

EpiFinder Genome is available now, and more information may be found at www.epigenica.se.

About Epigenica

Epigenica is a life sciences technology company at the forefront of innovations in epigenetic research. The company’s EpiFinder platform enables researchers to perform comprehensive epigenetic studies at unprecedented speed, scalability, and affordability.  Epigenica is building a portfolio of products based on the EpiFinder platform to offer comprehensive high-throughput profiling at different depths of detail with an array of possible starting materials. The platform is powered by the company’s patented and proprietary high-throughput, multiplex, quantitative ChIP-seq technology (hmqChIP), the first commercial kit of its kind. With the advantages of the EpiFinder platform, Epigenica is helping researchers advance biomedical research, drug discovery and development, precision medicine, diagnostics, and therapeutics for aging and longevity.

Epigenica was founded in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2020 and is venture-funded.