Halo Labs Launches the Aura GT™ for Gene Therapy Product Quality – PR Newswire

Aura GT is the first system specifically designed to quantify capsid aggregates and identify the mechanism of aggregation

BURLINGAME, CA – Oct 4, 2021 — Halo Labs, a life science instrumentation company developing tools for biologics researchers, today announced it has launched its latest product, Aura GT.

Aura GT is part of the next generation in Halo Labs’ popular family of instruments. Using Backgrounded Membrane Imaging (BMI) and Fluorescence Membrane Microscopy, Aura GT can distinguish aggregated capsids from contaminants, carrier proteins, and other particles that might adversely harm patients. Unique to Aura GT is the fact that it can also identify DNA leakage in gene therapy products so the mechanism of aggregation can be determined and corrected.

“Aura GT is going to completely revolutionize gene therapy product development. Gene therapy products are inherently unstable, which is a huge challenge. Up until now, there has been no effective way to correlate capsid aggregation with DNA leakage or empty and full capsids,” said Bernardo Cordovez, Chief Science Officer at Halo Labs. “In one assay, Aura GT can quantify capsid aggregates, distinguish them from protein aggregates, and determine if the aggregation is exacerbated by DNA leaking.”

“We are very excited to be launching our second instrument this year specifically developed for the cell and gene therapy market,” said Rick Gordon, CEO of Halo Labs. “Halo Labs has quickly become a leader in gene therapy analytics because we can answer many questions with very little volume. While other subvisible particle analyzers only do one thing, Aura systems offer a complete multi-assay platform that can be used to fully characterize gene therapy products from early development through lot release.”