Nanovial kits for large-scale cell-cell interaction sequencing

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded Partillion Bioscience Corp $979,071 on September 1, 2026, under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) to develop nanovial kits for large-scale cell-cell interaction sequencing.

Partillion will expand compatibility of nanovials—engineered hydrogel microcontainers that compartmentalize single-cell and cell-pair interactions—across widely used off-the-shelf single-cell sequencing chemistries to broaden user access and reduce costs. The work includes developing and validating nanovial workflows with capped formats to localize interactions, integrating library preparation, and establishing quantitative success criteria for low cross-talk and robust transcript capture. Partillion will execute two large-scale use cases to demonstrate generality and value: antibody discovery using hybridoma or B-cell-antigen pairs, and innate immunity studies using NK-tumor pairs. All work will be benchmarked against standard methods, and the recipient will deliver standard operating procedures, ready-to-use kits, and curated datasets with metadata for reuse, enabling broader participation in therapeutic discovery while preserving functional fidelity.

Performance occurs in Pasadena, California. The award period runs through August 31, 2028.

Abstract

Therapeutic discovery increasingly depends on understanding how defined single cells interact and on linking those functional outcomes to molecular readouts at scale. Today's high-throughput approaches often force trade- offs between functional relevance, accessibility, and cost, which limits the size and interpretability of discovery datasets. Nanovials, engineered hydrogel microcontainers developed by partillion bioscience, uniquely enable scalable assays of defined single-cell and cell-cell pairs that are compatible with standard flow cytometers and sequencing workflows. Nanovials compartmentalize pairs, preserve functional outcomes (secretion, activation, cytotoxicity), and are already commercially adopted for single-cell assays. Importantly, nanovials are compatible with off-the-shelf single-cell sequencing kits, enabling immediate execution of large-scale proof-of-concept studies. This phase II project will (1) expand compatibility across widely used off-the-shelf single-cell sequencing chemistries to broaden user access and reduce costs, and (2) demonstrate generation of large, interpretable datasets at a scale suitable for therapeutic discovery and for training AI foundation models. Aim 1 develops and validates nanovial workflows for these kits, including capped formats to localize interactions, library-prep integration, and quantitative success criteria for low cross-talk and robust transcript capture. Aim 2 executes two large-scale use cases to illustrate generality and value: antibody discovery with hybridoma or B-cell-antigen pairs, and innate immunity with NK-tumor pairs. Across both aims we will benchmark against standard methods, deliver sops and kits for immediate use, and release curated datasets with metadata for reuse. Successful completion will yield turnkey kits and datasets that increase discovery throughput while preserving functional fidelity, enabling broader participation by labs that rely on standard facs equipment. The anticipated impact is faster identification of functional antibody and cell therapy candidates and rich training data for computational models that learn from true cell-cell behavior.