The year 2023 has proven to be a momentous one for Deepcell, marked by a series of significant milestones that underscore the company’s commitment to innovation, scientific advancement, and fostering a vibrant community. Keep reading for a recap of the key highlights across product, people, and patrons, and to see a quantitative snapshot of Deepcell’s achievements in 2023.
Product: Shaping the Future of Cell Analysis
Deepcell kicked off the year strong at AGBT where we released a demo of our Axon data suite as well as the first public morpholomic datasets. Initially focused on oncology and immuno-oncology, the first datasets included the identification of cancer cells, exploration of cancer cell subpopulations, and investigation of immune cell diversity in the tumor microenvironment. As the year progressed, we further expanded our public datasets offered in the demo to include imaging of cell death pathways and morphological profiling of adult human stem cells. It has been highly rewarding to see the scientific community work directly with morpholomics data, and we look forward to adding more datasets in the future.
The pinnacle of Deepcell’s product innovations was the commercial launch of the REM-I platform in May 2023. The platform, designed for real-time imaging and powered by artificial intelligence to characterize and sort cells, has already left an indelible mark on the field. Scientific podium talks at CYTO, featuring CEO Maddison Masaeli, CTO Mahyar Salek, and Chief Scientist Nick Banovich, provided the community a deeper understanding of the REM-I platform’s capabilities and its applications. Further solidifying REM-I as a contribution to science, we saw our underlying technology published in Communications Biology.
Finishing the year strong, we were delighted to be recognized for the groundbreaking nature of our achievements with the Cell Imaging Product of the Year award from the BioTech Breakthrough Awards.
People: Nurturing Talent and Leadership
Deepcell’s growth in 2023 wasn’t limited to product development; the company expanded its team, recognizing the importance of fostering talent and leadership.
Team offsite, August 2023
CEO Maddison Masaeli received the prestigious Biocom Life Science Catalyst award, a testament to her visionary leadership. We also made some key additions to the leadership team, including:
- Dan Douglas as Vice President of Finance
- Bruce Wu as Chief Legal Officer, also featured by Profiles
- Mark Aitkenhead as Chief Commercial Officer
- Amirali Kia as Vice President of AI and Data Science
This diverse and skilled team continues to drive Deepcell’s mission as well as cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion within the company.
Patrons: Engaging with the Scientific Community
Deepcell’s commitment to collaboration and knowledge sharing manifested through strategic partnerships and engagements with the scientific community.
The completion of the technology access program (TAP) highlighted the platform’s real-world impact and helped the Deepcell team understand the nuances of putting the product in the hands of customers. In the spring we also launched the Spark program, enabling customers to “try before they buy”, showcasing our confidence in the transformative capabilities of the REM-I platform.
Following on the heels of these real-world demonstrations of morpholomics, we hosted a Deepcell Scientific Summit in Chicago during October. This event provided a platform for experts such as Hani Goodarzi of UCSF and Andy Tsai of Stanford University to present on their application of morpholomics to their research.
Continually impressed with the adoption of REM-I, we saw our first collaborator manuscript published by UCLA in Modern Pathology, which showed the ability of REM-I to enrich for tumor cells and detect genetic mutations at higher sensitivity. We were also honored to host two webinars featuring experts describing their applications of morpholomics in their research. Dr. Peter van der Spek from Erasmus MC presented examples of translational medicine projects using the REM-I platform for personalized medicine applications. Dr. Evelyn Lattmann from the University Hospital Zurich presented a morpholomic approach that enabled her to classify melanoma cells without fluorescent labels and characterize their response to perturbations.
Recap: Deepcell’s 2023 by the Numbers
Numbers tell a powerful story, and Deepcell’s 2023 journey is quantifiably impressive:
- Grew to over 100 employees
- Attended over 10 conferences
- Presented 14 scientific posters
- Delivered 12 impactful presentations
- Imaged more than 400 million cells
- Published two significant papers
- Collaboration with UCLA studying malfluid published in Modern Pathology
- Deepcell underlying technology published in Communications Biology
- Accumulated six awards recognizing CEO Maddison Masaeli as well as the company and product
- Garnered substantial online presence with around 10,000 followers on LinkedIn
As Deepcell reflects on the achievements of 2023, it’s clear that the company has not merely navigated the currents of single cell research; it has set sail for uncharted territories. The commitment to innovation, the nurturing of talent, engagement with the scientific community, and the quantifiable impact all attest to Deepcell’s position as a trailblazer in the field. As we look ahead, the horizon is filled with promise, and Deepcell remains at the forefront of shaping the future of deep biological discoveries.
Michelle Balakrishnan
Sr. Product Marketing Manager - Deepcell
