Dynamic Biosystems Completes Acquisition of WeGene Biotech to Build End-to-End Single-Cell Solution for Clinical Translation

Currently, single-cell technologies are primarily utilized in the research market, with their scale in China’s research services sector experiencing multiplicative growth for several consecutive years. The prospects for single-cell technologies in the clinical market are even more promising; however, several challenges remain before clinical adoption. A critical foundation for advancing single-cell technologies into clinical applications is the development of a commercialized technical platform that covers the entire workflow, including single-cell capture, sequencing, and bioinformatics analysis. It is understood that leading international companies such as 10x Genomics and BD mainly focus on single-cell sequencing, while CellSearch, formerly part of Johnson & Johnson, is more representative in the field of single-cell capture. In summary, very few companies worldwide currently offer comprehensive solutions covering the full spectrum of single-cell technologies.

Encouragingly, VCBeat has noted a recent merger and integration in China that has given rise to a dark-horse enterprise capable of providing comprehensive solutions for single-cell capture, sequencing, and bioinformatics analysis. This development holds promise for addressing many of the challenges associated with the clinical application of single-cell technologies.

On May 25, Dynamic Biosystems (hereinafter referred to as “Dynamic Biosystems”) officially announced the completion of its acquisition, integration, and equity change of Hangzhou Weizhuo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Weizhuo Bio”).

Weizhu Biology is dedicated to developing microsphere barcoding technology and the Paired-seq single-cell sequencing platform, successfully overcoming the limitations imposed by the Poisson distribution principle inherent in existing single-cell sequencing platforms represented by 10x Genomics and BD.On the Pi-Shengji biochip, the principle of differential flow resistance is ingeniously leveraged to achieve high-efficiency one-to-one pairing and capture of barcoded microspheres with cells. This results in cell utilization and pairing rates of approximately 95%, effectively meeting the requirements of single-cell sequencing for real-world clinical samples, which often contain only hundreds or thousands of cells.Meanwhile, this technology can eliminate interference from background RNA, reduce amplification bias, and improve the sensitivity of gene detection, significantly lowering the cost of single-cell sequencing.Early-stage research on this technology was supported by the National Major Scientific Instrument Development Project and key projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The findings were published in Nature Communications, a prestigious subsidiary journal of Nature, in April 2020, marking a significant breakthrough in China in novel methods and devices for single-cell sequencing. Currently, the research-version Paired-seq chips and supporting instruments have completed design and fabrication and are poised for market launch.

Following the completion of post-merger integration, Dynamic Biosystems has integrated upstream and downstream technologies. Building upon its existing single-cell enrichment and detection platform, two single-cell sequencing platforms based on distinct principles, and a single-cell bioinformatics analysis platform, the company has incorporated Weizhu Biology’s single-cell sequencing platform and microsphere encoding technology. This strategic consolidation positions Dynamic Biosystems as one of the few companies globally with a comprehensive, end-to-end deep layout in the single-cell sector, thereby accelerating the commercialization and clinical adoption of single-cell technologies.

Single-cell technology is one of the disruptive technologies in the field of precision medicine. In 2017, Nature predicted that single-cell analysis of blood samples or other biopsy specimens would become routine within the next decade. Science named single-cell technology the 2018 Breakthrough of the Year, forecasting that it would reshape the landscape of biological and medical research over the following ten years.

In recent years, Chinese scientists have conducted extensive original research in the single-cell research market.However, similar to other sectors within the life sciences, China’s upstream single-cell equipment market is currently dominated by 10x Genomics products, with companies such as BD, Bio-Rad, and Fluidigm holding only small market shares; the market has long been monopolized by foreign entities.Most domestic companies procure upstream equipment from abroad to provide research services, lacking independent, commercially viable technology platforms for upstream equipment. A few enterprises have attempted to imitate foreign upstream equipment, but constrained by identical technical principles, they have failed to demonstrate performance advantages and have yet to achieve significant breakthroughs.

Therefore, Li Jiacheng, CEO of Dynamic Biosystems, believes: “To achieve overtaking on a curve, domestic enterprises must start with upstream methodological innovation, breaking through existing methodologies and technical principles, thereby creating opportunities to break the foreign monopoly and achieve catch-up.”

Li Jiacheng introduced that there are still several major weaknesses in the mainstream single-cell sequencing technologies currently available on the market.First, it has not broken free from the constraints of the Poisson distribution principle.This results in low cell utilization, inefficient use of encoding microspheres, and high costs. The method requires a high initial number of cells from samples and cannot effectively handle trace amounts of cells or common clinical samples containing only hundreds to thousands of cells.2. High requirements for cell viability, there is an issue of background RNA interference.Third, water-in-oil microdroplets act as dead-end compartments, requiring all reaction reagents to be added at once at the start of the experiment.It is difficult to add new reagents midway through an experiment, and chamber rinsing cannot be performed; as a platform, this limits its application scalability.

These weaknesses represent the breakthrough points for domestic companies to achieve overtaking on a bend.

Professor Yang Chaoyong, founder of Dynamic Biosystems, is committed to developing single-cell methods that overcome the limitations of Poisson distribution principles. As one of the earliest experts worldwide involved in the development of single-cell sequencing technology, he led China’s National Major Scientific Instrument Special Project for the development of automated single-cell multi-omics analysis systems.Its latest achievement, “Single-Cell Whole-Genome Sequencing Technology (Digital-WGS),” was published in December 2020 in Science Advances, a subsidiary journal of the prestigious international journal Science.As reported by the Ministry of Science and Technology on January 12, 2021, in the article “Chinese Scientists Develop New Technology, Significantly Enhancing Single-Cell Sequencing Performance,” Digital-WGS offers a unique approach to addressing current challenges in whole-genome amplification, thereby providing an effective and robust method for single-cell sequencing. This method is scalable and universally applicable to any chemical workflow for single-cell analysis, holding broad application prospects for single-cell genome sequencing. The company’s CEO, Li Jiacheng, has previously held positions at leading multinational corporations such as Pfizer, GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Bio-Rad, and Abbott Diagnostics, bringing over 20 years of management experience in the medical device industry.

Dynamic Biosystems is one of the few companies globally to offer a comprehensive, end-to-end solution with deep integration in the single-cell market. It overcomes the limitations of the Poisson distribution principle inherent in existing single-cell sequencing platforms, enabling efficient pairing of cells and microbeads while eliminating background RNA interference. Furthermore, it provides flexible processing for trace, large-volume, and ultra-high-throughput cell samples.Currently, Dynamic Biosystems possesses three original single-cell sequencing instrument platforms that break through the principles of Poisson distribution, as well as platforms for single-cell enrichment and detection, single-cell bioinformatics analysis technologies, and microsphere encoding technologies. These capabilities meet the full-process clinical needs for single-cell capture, sequencing, and bioinformatics analysis, thereby promoting the widespread application of single-cell technologies in clinical practice.

Leveraging its comprehensive single-cell solution, Dynamic Biosystems will apply single-cell technology to tumor treatment monitoring, cancer early screening with organ-of-origin tracing, single-cell sequencing analysis of the tumor microenvironment, and preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Additionally, it will expand and upgrade the detection scope of existing non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) technologies by utilizing whole-genome sequencing based on circulating fetal cells.

In a review article published in Cancer Cell in April 2021, authors from MD Anderson commented that just as next-generation sequencing (NGS) transformed oncology over the past decade, single-cell sequencing will not only have a profound impact on cancer research but also exert an even greater influence on clinical cancer diagnosis and treatment in the coming decade, becoming a routine tool for oncologists. Li Jiacheng judged that,Over the next 3–5 years, single-cell technologies will transition into clinical practice.

Dynamic Biosystems aims to build a single-cell technology platform company, leading the advancement of single-cell technologies into the clinical market.The company has already established a 1,000-square-meter production base for active devices, and a 1,000-square-meter cleanroom facility for reagents is about to be delivered for use, with products poised to enter the market. Moving forward, Dynamic Biosystems will continue to increase its R&D investment, build a commercialization and promotion team, and actively conduct clinical application research in collaboration with partners across various fields. The company aims to unlock the significant value of single-cell technology in precision oncology, eugenics and healthy reproduction, and drug discovery, transforming technological advantages into medical benefits and contributing to the rapid development of single-cell technology in China.