Molecular Instruments® (MI), founded by the inventor of the HCR™ technology, today announces the launch of the HCR™ Gold and HCR™ Pro product lines. These offerings significantly expand the HCR™ imaging platform to facilitate academic research and biopharma drug development using either manual or automated workflows. The expanded platform supports fluorescent and chromogenic assays for simultaneous RNA and protein imaging with well-preserved sample morphology.

HCR™ Imaging Platform

The foundational HCR™ imaging platform redefined the state-of-the-art for multiplex, quantitative, high-resolution RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (RNA-FISH) in thick autofluorescent samples. The HCR™ platform provides the first straightforward multiplexing, first quantitative imaging, and first single-molecule sensitivity in challenging imaging settings including whole-mount vertebrate embryos, thick brain slices, and, most recently, the entire adult mouse brain. Additionally, the HCR™ platform provides the first unified framework for simultaneous RNA and protein imaging in highly autofluorescent samples. The platform achieves deep sample penetration and high signal-to-background ratios by leveraging dynamic nanotechnology to enable small amplification components to: 1) first penetrate a biological sample without interacting and 2) then execute triggered growth of bright amplification polymers at the site of targets within the sample. This unique combination of properties is central to the HCR™ Gold product line for manual enzyme-free fluorescent workflows and the HCR™ Pro product line for automated enzymatic chromogenic and fluorescent workflows.

HCR™ Gold RNA-FISH/IF. Enhanced signal-to-background. 10-Plex.

HCR™ Gold RNA-FISH manual assays enhance signal-to-background in diverse sample types, further expanding the unmatched versatility of the HCR™ imaging platform. In an industry first, 10-plex HCR™ Gold spectral imaging enables imaging of 10 RNA and/or protein targets in highly autofluorescent samples with simultaneous quantitative signal amplification for all 10 targets, making it ideal for whole-mount and delicate specimens that are ill-suited for multiplexing approaches that rely on repeated imaging cycles. With 10-plex HCR™ Gold, there is no repeated staining, imaging, stripping, or registration.

HCR™ Pro RNA-CISH/RNA-FISH. Entirely Protease-Free Workflow. Native Compatibility with IHC/IF.

The HCR™ Pro automated product line leverages the unique sample penetration and triggered amplification properties of the HCR™ imaging platform to pioneer entirely protease-free workflows for chromogenic and fluorescent RNA in situ hybridization (RNA-CISH/RNA-FISH) in FFPE and fresh/fixed frozen tissue sections that are fundamental to biopharma drug development workflows. Traditional RNA imaging technologies rely heavily on protease pre-treatment to enable large imaging reagents to penetrate samples, but this process often damages sample morphology and compromises protein target integrity, making it challenging to image RNA and protein targets in a single well-preserved sample. In contrast, the HCR™ Pro protease-free workflow naturally preserves sample morphology and maintains protein target integrity, enabling seamless compatibility with existing immunohistochemistry (IHC)/immunofluorescence (IF) assays. With 2-Plex HCR™ Pro, researchers can simultaneously image two target RNAs (plus additional target proteins) within a single well-preserved sample, maximizing insights while conserving valuable patient specimens.

MI’s CCO, Dr. Aneesh Acharya notes, “HCR™ Pro upends an industry that has long been caught between a rock and a hard place, searching for protease pre-treatment conditions for each new target protein such that proteins within the tissue section are chewed up enough to allow penetration of RNA imaging reagents but not so much that the sample falls apart and target proteins can no longer be imaged. With HCR™ Pro, these tradeoffs are eliminated because the workflow is protease-free from day one.”

Infinite Catalog of HiFi Probes. No Design Fees. HCR™ HiFi Probe Promise.

HCR™ Gold and HCR™ Pro kits both rely on HCR™ HiFi Probes that are interchangeable between the two product lines and provide automatic background suppression using a proprietary trigger mechanism. MI’s Infinite Catalog provides HCR™ HiFi Probes for any target RNA in any organism across the tree of life with no design fee and backed by the HCR™ HiFi Probe Promise.

According to MI’s CEO, Dr. Harry Choi, “MI is expanding the HCR™ platform as a uniquely high-performance, elegant, and robust imaging platform, with HCR™ Gold providing academic researchers the versatility they need for multiplex, quantitative, high-resolution imaging in diverse challenging sample types, and HCR™ Pro providing biopharma drug developers with clinical-grade automated workflows for compatible RNA and protein imaging in a single specimen with pristine tissue morphology.”

About Molecular Instruments

Molecular Instruments® (www.molecularinstruments.com) develops and synthesizes molecular kits powered by the breakthrough HCR™ imaging platform for applications in academic research, drug development, synthetic biology, and clinical pathology and diagnostics.

Learn more about HCR™ Gold. Learn more about HCR™ Pro.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250129339295/en/

"MI is expanding the HCR™ platform as a uniquely high-performance, elegant, and robust imaging platform."