Researchers at VIB, a leading Belgian life sciences research institute, will conduct on-site testing of CosmoSort, first spatial biology technology to isolate precise cells and tissue regions, without compromising surrounding tissue.
Meteor Biotech, a specialised spatial omics technology company producing region-targeted cell sorting devices for advanced biomedical research, has announced its launch in Europe with the installation of its innovative CosmoSort platform at VIB, a world-class research institute in Belgium. This collaboration marks Meteor Biotech’s first deployment of its unique spatial biology technology in Europe.
CosmoSort will provide life science researchers at VIB, which employs close to 2,000 scientists, with a new method for achieving the depth of cell behaviour analysis they need to conduct research, with high societal impact, that spans the molecular fundamentals of life, disease mechanisms and sustainable agriculture.
VIB’s selection of CosmoSort underscores a growing trend towards spatial biology technologies that enable both visualisation of tissue architecture and precise isolation of cells for downstream molecular analysis. The spatial biology field has been rapidly evolving, with growing significance in translational research and precision medicine, as researchers seek more capabilities that go beyond static spatial mapping - which can obscure critical aspects of cell behaviour.
“We are delighted with this opportunity to collaborate with the researchers at VIB, a world-leading institution. This installation marks Meteor Biotech’s first entry into the European market, a milestone of great significance for us,” said Amos Lee, CEO of Meteor Biotech. “Having established our presence in Asia and North America over the last two years, expanding into Europe demonstrates our growth into a truly international player. We see this as the starting point for the broader adoption of CosmoSort across more countries and research institutions worldwide, and the setting of a new standard for spatial omics.”
As a next-generation spatial biology platform, CosmoSort combines accuracy, reproducibility and scalability, while allowing researchers to move seamlessly from imaging to actionable biological insights.
“CosmoSort’s sample-agnostic design enables VIB to investigate the wide variety of tissues and organisms that our scientists work with,” said Bram Van den Bergh, technology expert at VIB’s Tech Watch Core, specialized in scouting and de-risking breakthrough technologies. “We are just beginning to explore its potential, but its flexibility is promising and could pave the way for true multi-omics research across diverse study contexts. The open architecture and speed of CosmoSort make it a strong candidate for multi-omics workflows. If we can validate their promises in-house, their spatial isolation platform would integrate seamlessly into various other spatial setups at VIB that we couldn’t easily realise before.”
Meteor Biotech will deploy CosmoSort as part of VIB’s spatial biology research, focusing on isolating precise cells and regions of interest to generate high-quality proteome and full-transcriptome datasets. Beyond direct research use, the equipment will serve as a demonstration platform, with Meteor Biotech and VIB researchers jointly showcasing its capabilities to neighbouring research teams.