March 31, 2022 – BD recently released the BD Rhapsody™ TCR/BCR Multiomic Assay, an innovative set of reagents that enables researchers to more easily and comprehensively analyze important cells in the immune system, providing a tool to advance research in autoimmune disorders, immuno-oncology and infectious diseases.
Multiomics is a rapidly developing field where researchers look at multiple types of molecules on the same cell, which can provide greater biological insights than the traditional approach of analyzing molecules in aggregate, across many cells. The BD Rhapsody™ TCR/BCR Multiomic Assay supplies immunology researchers the specific reagents required to profile full-length T cell and B cell receptors, two of the most important cellular elements in the immune system, to better understand the adaptive immune response and enable applications such as evaluating cellular responses to new drugs.
“Understanding the contribution of these heterogeneous cell subsets at the single-cell level is of extreme relevance,” said Susan Ribeiro, PhD, Assistant Professor, Emory University School of Medicine. “This coupling of single RNAseq/AbSeq along with TCR/BCR sequencing opens a new horizon for the understanding of the contribution of T and B cell receptors to the diversity of immune responses observed in people. The new BD Rhapsody™ TCR/BCR Multiomic Assay can be very helpful to guide the discovery of new therapeutic targets.”
The BD Rhapsody™ TCR/BCR Multiomic Assay has a wide range of applications, including screening for antigen specific cells in response to infectious diseases, immune repertoire profiling of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, and vaccine development and evaluation of efficacy. The assay is optimized to work with the company’s BD Rhapsody™ Single-Cell Analysis System workflow, which enables higher capture rates than currently available solutions, preserving fragile cells in the process. This first-generation kit is now available globally and is the latest addition to the fast-growing portfolio of tools for multiomic analysis at BD.