BD Partners With University of Pennsylvania to Advance Immune Research and New Immunotherapy Treatments

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE:BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced a strategic collaboration with the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health (I3H) at the University of Pennsylvania, to advance research in deep human immune profiling and support the development of immune-mediated therapies.

 

The collaboration includes developing and validating a high-parameter flow cytometry panel that can capture key functional pathways in whole blood, including phosphorylation markers, which provide powerful insight into how single cells respond to drugs or disease states. The panel will support a planned 1,000-patient immune profiling study, in partnership with the Penn Colton Center for Autoimmunity, expected to start this summer. The project will leverage the BD FACSDiscover™ A8 Cell Analyzer, BD Rhapsody™ System, BD reagents, software and informatics, with BD teams managing reagents, instrumentation, and spectral data algorithms, and I3H teams serving as scientific and clinical leads. The team intends to publish a peer-reviewed manuscript describing the results of the study.

"This project demonstrates the power of collaboration between academia and industry," said Dr. E. John Wherry, PhD, the Richard and Barbara Schiffrin President's Distinguished Professor, director of the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health at the University of Pennsylvania, and the director of the Colton Consortium for Autoimmunity. "We are bringing together cross-functional experts to transform human immune profiling for maximum impact, enabling deeper insights from our immune cells that could accelerate development of precise medical treatments."

The collaboration reflects a shared vision of unlocking the power of the human immune system to advance science and health. It is made possible by the BD FACSDiscover™ A8 Cell Analyzer, which is the first cell analyzer featuring breakthrough spectral and real-time cell imaging technologies, and the new BD Horizon™ Chroma solution for dried high-parameter panels. The project supports the commitment of both organizations to contribute to the research community through collaboration and knowledge sharing.