Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

Tender description

VEAT notice to alert the market of the University of Birmingham intention to award a contract for NanoString’s GeoMx™ Digital Spatial Profiler via a sole source procedure and not through a competitive OJEU tender procedure. Understanding tissue microenvironments and the role of specific cell types, receptors, ligands and transcriptional signatures is critical both in defining routes of disease pathogenesis, factors underly prognosis or response to therapy, and also viable points of intervention, including novel therapies, drug combinations, or different approaches to patient stratification. UoB is seeking new technologies that allow highly multiplex and quantitative analysis of candidate targets/biomarkers and the ability to resolve these spatially. This would allow both fundamental research groups and collaborative interactions with external collaborators/industry partners to answer key questions regarding biological mechanisms underpinning disease pathogenesis, patient prognosis and response to therapy, catalysing generation of novel targeted therapy approaches. Accepted methods for characterisation the spatial distribution of protein or nucleic acid targets in tissue microenvironments include immunohistochemistry (IHC), in situ hybridisation (ISH), and imaging mass spectrometry. However, these require multiple tissue sections even for analysis of a high number of biomarkers, increasing heterogeneity due to variability and requiring more samples. IHC and ISH are both only semi-quantitative and also have limited multiplexing capability. Conversely, mass spectrometry imaging allows quantification but has limited spatial resolution. Flow cytometry is powerful for liquid analyses, and allows single cell characterisation of the surface/intracellular proteome, but is relatively low in multiplexing capability and also crucially requires disruption of the tissue, with the result that spatial information is lost. The University will procure the NanoString’s GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler through a sole source route and not a competitive tender via OJEU as this instrument is the only instrument which provides the University with: — high multiplexing capability (up to 800 markers), — simultaneously counting protein and nucleic acid molecule expression in situ, with high specificity and spatial resolution and — the ability to quantitatively characterise precious clinical samples, ensuring maximum information from just 2x 5uM sections of tissue. Through one instrument. The NanoString’s GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler is to be procured through a sole source route and not tendered via OJEU as this instrument is the only instrument available in the market that allows for all of the following: High level of multiplexing – Simultaneously multiplexing >800 proteins/nucleic acid analytes by DSP compared to maximum of 8 by IHC. Greater use of precious clinical samples by obtaining up to 800 biomarkers from 2 tissue slices, getting more from less. Potential development of this platform will allow >1 000 markers. Multiplex mRNA and Protein simultaneously on the same platform spatial information of each marker. Quantitative. I count = 1 molecule giving high sensitivity. Can detect down to single cell (10uM), identify all disease drivers in heterogeneous tissue. Flexibility of fresh, frozen and FFPE tissue, pre-clinical (cell lines/complex cell models) and clinical (tissue)application. This VEAT notice is altering the market of the University’s intention to award a contract via a sole source procedure and not via a competitive tender via OJEU. The University intends to award a contract for the above once a 10-day standstill period has ended. The 10-day standstill period will commence from the publication of this notice in OJEU.