CREATING THE RIGHT SPIRIT

TissueGnostics is an innovative enterprise on the cutting edge of science and technology our activities are guided by economic principles. We provide our customers with a new generation of imaging and analysis tools for basic and clinical research.

We offer objectivity, quality and innovation and continuously demand it from ourselves. Through const professional development, We maintain top-level scientific standards and competence by constantly reviewing and improving our processes, both scientific and business.

Hallmarks of our work include creativity, commitment and mutual understanding at all levels of operation. We make sure that our staff members enjoy a pleasant working environment that brings out their best performance.

EXCHANGING THOUGHTS

Everyday communication is about people exchanging ideas. We promote sincere communication in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect to further creativity, satisfaction and social competence.

We are closely cooperating with clinicians and research facilities to ensure that our development work will always be customer-oriented. Custom requests and needs expressed by individuals are being incorporated to gear our products for a broad spectrum of challenges.

JOINING FORCES

We are making every effort to promote a sense of community enabling us to act as a team.

Our daily interactions are guided by mutual respect and pervaded by a peer-to-peer spirit. We strongly believe that social competence should not be a hollow phrase. Therefore we practice what we preach.

Our efforts are supported by solid training, continuous professional development, setting targets, and being responsible individuals. We cannot accept poor working conditions.

IHC 2 APP: Ki-67 Nuclear Staining Analysis

The nuclear protein Ki-67 is an established cell proliferation marker in research and clinics. Its staining and evaluation in tissue sections is an integral part of cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Automated quantitative analysis of marker expression can provide a valuable supplement to visual evaluation. The IHC2 App is among the StrataQuest easiest-to-use analysis Apps and requires very little preparation time. This streamlined one-click analysis solution allows single cell detection, including the quantification of one additional marker within brightfield images.

The aim of the following case study was to assess (i) the total number of cells as well as (ii) the number and % of Ki-67 positive cells. (a) shows colon tissue stained for hematoxylin (blue) to detect the nuclei and Ki-67 (brown).

The first step of brightfield analysis is color separation. Using the color separation engine (b), the blue marker is automatically separated from the brown marker, as they are shown in grayscale images below.

The second step is the automatic identification of nuclei based on hematoxylin and Ki-67 staining. Since Ki-67 is located in the nuclei and is also covering the hematoxylin staining there, the nuclei can be detected from both markers. Analysis masks provide visual control of the correctness of the nuclear segmentation – here the nuclei are outlined in green (c).

After setting a cut-off on the intensity of the Ki-67 marker in the corresponding scattergram, Ki-67 positive cells are shown with a red outline (d).

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Backward connection allows to check cells of interest separately on the corresponding scattergram (e), for example, for checking a possible outlier. The scattergram on the example is plotted for mean Ki-67 intensity vs nuclei size. The results can be exported in common CSV or Excel formats.

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Nuclear segmentation, as well as marker detection, is only one of the possibilities of the streamlined analysis solution available for StrataQuest. Get inspired by other analysis solutions in our StrataQuest App Center. Our team would also be glad to develop a personalized solution for you.

HISTORY

TissueGnostics was established in 2003 in Austria after nearly a decade of basic research. The goal was to supply scientists with qualitative and observer independent results for cell and tissue analysis in tissue context and this in automated format and significantly less time. Katja Österreicher, Georg Steiner and Dr. Rupert Ecker, the three co-founders of the company, with the aid of a dozen of development partners (Medical University Vienna, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center New York, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research, Vienna; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle; Brighamand Women`s Hospital, Boston; etc.) succeeded in reaching this target by 2005.

The product launch of TissueFAXS 1.0 was in 2006 and provided tissue imaging and automated identification and functional characterization of single cells in tissue sections. In contrast to morphometry, which provides values referring to the metric dimensions of cells, the term “tissue cytometry” refers to quantification of molecular parameters. Though methodically different, tissue cytometry exhibits a functional similarity to flow cytometry. While flow cytometer is restricted to cells in suspension (e.g. blood) and cannot be applied to solid tissue, tissue cytometry refers to the cytometric analysis (as opposed to morphometric analysis) of histological sections. TissueGnostics has been the first manufacturer of tissue cytometers offering a flow cytometry-like workflow (but applied to tissue sections).

Today in 2022 TissueGnostics is a successfull company with subsidiaries in the EU, the USA and China and with customers on all continents.