A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Cell Biosciences (Palo Alto, California), a provider of nanoproteomic analysis systems to life science researchers, said it has closed a $10 million Series C financing led by its largest shareholder, the Wellcome Trust. Existing investors Domain Associates, Latterell Venture Partners, Novo A/S, Mitsui Ventures, Royal Bank of Canada and The Vertical Group also participated in the financing.

The company said the investment should allow it to bring its proteomics technology to the broad life sciences market.

"We are very happy to announce this financing in the current economic environment and we believe it represents a strong vote of confidence by our investors in the potential of the technology and team at Cell Biosciences," said Tim Harkness, president/CEO of Cell Biosciences.

The Cell Biosciences platform is an ultrasensitive nanofluidic immunoassay system designed to analyze proteins in extremely small biological samples. According to the company, researchers use its products to discover subtle details about phosphoprotein signaling in a wide variety of biological systems.

Cell Biosciences has sold systems and established direct distribution organizations in North America and Europe. This month the company will launch its next generation protein analysis system, the CB1000, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Denver.

"We continue to believe that the Cell Biosciences platform is an important enabling technology for biomarker discovery and ultimately can make a real difference in patient care," said Julie Eskay-Eagle, a board member and the head of healthcare investments for the Wellcome Trust.

Cell Biosciences says its products enable researchers to, among other things, help identify new prognostic and diagnostic disease biomarkers.