End-to-end preclinical support for cell therapy and immuno-oncology programs — CAR-T functional validation, in vivo tumor modeling, tumor microenvironment profiling, AI neoantigen prediction, and spatial or exosomal readouts built to answer one question: will this candidate work in patients?
Immuno-oncology programs rarely fail for lack of a construct. They fail because potency, persistence, and target specificity were never characterized together — a CAR-T that kills well in a plate may exhaust in vivo, a degrader that binds tightly may never form a productive ternary complex, and a target that looks promising in bulk RNA-seq may sit in the wrong spatial compartment to be reachable.
Alfa Oncology's immuno-oncology service line addresses each of these failure points with CAR-T Cell Function Validation Services, In Vivo Tumor Model Services, and Tumor Immune Microenvironment Analysis Services workflows. Around this core, we run a complete discovery stack — Spatial Transcriptomics Services, Tumor Immunotherapy Target Discovery Services, AI Neoantigen Prediction Services, PROTAC Degradation Activity Detection Services, Drug-Resistant Cell Model Construction Services, and Exosome Isolation and Characterization Services — so that candidate selection, mechanism of action, and translational evidence are generated under one program rather than stitched together across vendors.
Every project runs through documented protocols, QC checkpoints, and interpretive reporting, supporting go/no-go decisions from lead selection through IND-enabling studies.
Each module stands alone or combines into a complete immuno-oncology package — from CAR-T functional validation and in vivo efficacy testing through immune profiling, target discovery, and bioanalytical readouts.
Measure CAR-T potency, cytokine release, degranulation, and exhaustion within one program. Co-culture cytotoxicity assays run across multiple effector-to-target ratios, reporting EC50, maximal specific lysis, and antigen-specific versus background killing before in vivo work starts.
Learn More →Subcutaneous, orthotopic, CDX, and PDX xenograft platforms support CAR-T efficacy, persistence, and trafficking studies. Reporter-labeled tumors enable bioluminescence monitoring, with tumor growth delay, survival, and multiplex IHC or flow cytometry endpoints delivered per study.
Learn More →High-parameter flow cytometry combined with bulk RNA-seq and machine-learning deconvolution quantifies T cells, NK cells, macrophages, MDSCs, and Tregs in dissociated tumor tissue, resolving the immune composition and transcriptional programs behind response or resistance.
Learn More →Convert tumor and matched-normal WES, WGS, or RNA-seq into a ranked neoantigen shortlist. Somatic variant calling, HLA typing, deep-learning peptide–MHC binding and stability prediction, and immunogenicity scoring are delivered as annotated, prioritization-ready candidate lists.
Learn More →Confirm binary binding by TR-FRET, AlphaScreen, FP, or SPR, then quantify ternary complex formation and cellular degradation. Readouts include DC50, Dmax, degradation kinetics, hook-effect windows, and ubiquitination or proteasome-dependence verification across a validated E3 ligase panel.
Learn More →Profile gene expression while preserving native tissue architecture on Xenium, Visium, or GeoMx. Custom probe panels, deep-learning cell segmentation, and integrated bioinformatics map immune cell localization, tumor heterogeneity, and spatial niches at subcellular resolution.
Learn More →Generate characterized resistant sub-lines through continuous stepwise escalation or pulsed high-dose exposure. Each deliverable includes resistance index by IC50 fold-change, stability testing, cross-resistance profiling, and mycoplasma-free certified cultures for mechanistic and combination studies.
Learn More →FFPE-first multi-omic profiling and spatial biology on clinically relevant cohorts, supported by expert pathology review and custom cohort design. Deliverables include a ranked target shortlist with evidence tags, cohort-level expression validation, and an interpretive reporting session.
Learn More →Isolate 30–150 nm extracellular vesicles from serum, plasma, urine, saliva, ascites, or culture media, then confirm purity by NTA, TEM, and marker analysis. Contaminant-reduced fractions are ready for biomarker discovery, functional assays, or therapeutic engineering.
Learn More →Define your modality, target antigen, model system, and decision endpoint; we scope assays, cohorts, and readouts around your go/no-go question.
Qualify cell lines, xenograft models, antibody panels, or sequencing pipelines, with panel design and analytical criteria documented before sample processing.
Functional co-culture, in vivo monitoring, flow cytometry, spatial or transcriptomic profiling, exosome isolation, and computational prediction run on your study samples.
Ranked candidates, potency or degradation metrics, spatial maps, and interpretation-ready reports with a scientific debrief to support your next development decision.
Immuno-oncology readouts link directly to our preclinical and disease model resources across hematologic and solid indications.
Teams experienced in CAR-T functional immunology, adoptive cell therapy models, and immuno-oncology target biology rather than generic assay services.
Functional assays, in vivo models, spatial and transcriptomic profiling, AI prediction, and exosome analytics delivered within one program instead of across vendors.
Assay panels, model selection, cohort composition, and sequencing depth are scoped to your target, indication, and decision point instead of fixed menus.
Validated protocols, QC checkpoints at every processing step, and traceable reporting so results withstand internal review and regulatory scrutiny.
Selected peer-reviewed publications underpinning the methodologies behind our immuno-oncology platforms.
In vitro CAR-T cell killing: validation of the potency assay (Piccinini et al., 2024)
View article →Protocol to analyze immune cells in the tumor microenvironment by transcriptome using machine learning (Liao et al., 2024)
View article →dSTORM-Based Single-Cell Protein Quantitative Analysis Can Effectively Evaluate the Degradation Ability of PROTACs (Yang et al., 2023)
View article →In vitro Development of Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy Drug-Resistant Cancer Cell Lines: A Practical Guide with Case Studies (McDermott et al., 2014)
View article →Yes. Our CAR-T Cell Function Validation Services are designed as a gate before animal work: cytotoxicity across multiple effector-to-target ratios, cytokine secretion, degranulation, and exhaustion marker profiling are delivered first, so only candidates with demonstrated antigen-specific potency advance into in vivo testing.
Model choice follows the biology rather than a default. Our In Vivo Tumor Model Services cover subcutaneous, orthotopic, CDX, and PDX platforms with optional luciferase or GFP labeling, and the implantation route, tumor source, and endpoint panel are agreed with your team before study initiation.
Cohorts are built for your decision. Tumor Immunotherapy Target Discovery Services start from a custom FFPE cohort design with defined inclusion and exclusion criteria, then combine whole-transcriptome profiling, spatial validation, and expert pathology review to deliver a ranked, evidence-tagged target shortlist.
Yes. AI Neoantigen Prediction Services output a prioritized candidate list with binding, stability, and immunogenicity scores, which can be carried forward into immune microenvironment profiling or exosome-based readouts within the same program, keeping computational and experimental evidence in one narrative.
Yes. PROTAC Degradation Activity Detection Services confirm binary binding, ternary complex formation, and cellular degradation with DC50, Dmax, and kinetic readouts, and are frequently paired with Drug-Resistant Cell Model Construction Services when resistance mechanisms need to be characterized.
Both are used to answer questions that bulk assays cannot. Spatial Transcriptomics Services resolves where immune populations sit relative to tumor and stromal compartments, while Exosome Isolation and Characterization Services provides contaminant-reduced vesicle fractions for biomarker discovery or functional studies from liquid samples.
Tell us about your construct, target, or candidate set — our scientists will propose a study design covering the right combination of functional, in vivo, and profiling readouts within 1–2 business days.