Different analytes, different information
ctDNA captures tumor-derived molecular material in plasma. Intact circulating tumor cells preserve whole-cell features that can support a different set of research measurements.
Longitudinal viable-cell measurement for translational oncology
Follow the same living tumor cell through response.
VitraCell is developing Vimeran, a preclinical platform for recovering rare, viable tumor-associated cells from blood while preserving them for downstream measurement and characterization. From there, we are investigating a larger question: does the history of the same living cell contain meaningful information about treatment response that conventional population and endpoint measurements lose?
Preclinical research and development stage. Vimeran is under development and has not been clinically validated. Longitudinal same-cell response measurement remains a research hypothesis. Not intended for diagnosis or treatment selection.
Research hypothesis
ctDNA data→Molecular context
Viable-cell data→Potential complementary context
The VitraCell thesis in 60 seconds
What can a living tumor cell reveal alongside ctDNA?
See how Vimeran™ and the ΔSR research framework connect viable circulating tumor cells, controlled therapeutic perturbation and complementary molecular context—without assuming the answer before the evidence exists.
Preclinical research platform under development. Vimeran™ and ΔSR have not been clinically validated and are not intended for diagnosis or treatment selection.
Viable-cell sourceVimeran recovery platform
Research questionSame-cell longitudinal response
Current stagePreclinical development
Partner modelCollaborative proof-of-concept studies
The translational gap
ctDNA can answer important molecular questions. Living cells can support different ones.
Translational medicine and oncology biomarker teams increasingly use ctDNA and liquid biopsy to study tumor-derived molecular signals in blood. A complementary viable-CTC layer could support different research questions that require intact cells, including phenotype, heterogeneity, treatment-resistance biology and downstream cell-based characterization.
Living-cell questions require living cells
Questions involving cell morphology, biophysical phenotype, recovery or controlled ex vivo perturbation cannot be answered from cell-free DNA alone.
The opportunity is complementary
VitraCell's research hypothesis is that viable-cell data may add biological context when analyzed alongside ctDNA and other translational study endpoints.
Vimeran viable-cell recovery platform
Recover the cell. Preserve its identity. Measure what changes.
Vimeran is being developed to address the front end of the problem: recovering rare, viable tumor-associated cells from blood while preserving them for what comes next. The intended output is a recoverable population of viable rare cells suitable for downstream measurement and characterization.
RecoverRare viable tumor-associated cells from blood for research use
PreserveMaintain viable cells and their identity for downstream study
EnableCreate the viable-cell foundation for longitudinal measurement and later molecular characterization
Target outputA potential complementary viable-cell data layer for translational studies
The evidence program
Does the history of the same living cell contain information we are currently losing?
The near-term objective is to establish viable-cell recovery, background depletion, post-processing viability and reproducible characterization. In parallel, VitraCell is investigating whether preserving the identity of the same viable cell across baseline measurement, controlled therapeutic perturbation and repeated early measurements reveals information associated with established downstream biological endpoints.
Current focusCTC foundation
Establish the viable rare-cell engine
Build the repeatable isolation and characterization foundation required before functional testing of rare patient-derived cells is credible.
- Label-free recovery of viable circulating tumor cells
- Recovery, background-cell depletion and post-processing viability
- Repeatable biophysical characterization
- Traceable linkage to downstream cell identity
Next evidence stageLongitudinal same-cell measurement
Preserve identity. Measure change over time.
VitraCell is testing whether repeated measurements of the same viable tumor cell before and after controlled therapeutic perturbation contain biologically relevant response information that is lost or degraded when different cells are measured at different time points. This is a hypothesis to be tested, not a validated drug-response assay.
- Establish a baseline measurement while preserving cell identity
- Apply a defined therapeutic perturbation under controlled conditions
- Follow the same viable cell through early repeated measurements
- Relate that trajectory to established molecular, cellular and terminal response endpoints
The science behind the hypothesis
Published biology supports the question. VitraCell still has to prove the answer.
Independent research supports several premises behind VitraCell's development program: viable CTCs can support functional study; intact cells provide information that cell-free analytes cannot preserve; and therapeutic perturbation can produce measurable electrical and mechanical state changes at the single-cell level. These findings establish scientific plausibility—not validation of Vimeran™ or ΔSR.
Viable CTCs enable functional study
Peer-reviewed work has described viable CTC enrichment, culture and functional investigation, including drug-screening applications. The scarcity of CTCs remains a major technical constraint.
Pantel & Alix-Panabières, Clinical Chemistry →CTCs can complement ctDNA
Recent reviews distinguish viable CTCs from ctDNA because intact cells retain phenotypic and functional information, supporting their study as a complementary liquid-biopsy analyte.
Recent CTC precision-oncology review →Drug exposure can change cell state
Single-cell impedance studies have detected heterogeneous drug-associated electrical responses, including signals observed before overt phenotypic change in experimental cancer-cell systems.
Chemical Science single-cell study →The unresolved ΔSR question
Recent work continues to document drug-induced mechanical and electrical state transitions in tumor cells. What remains unproven is whether an early, reproducible trajectory in rare viable patient-derived tumor cells provides useful nonredundant information alongside established endpoints. That is the question ΔSR is intended to test.
2026 mechanophenotype study →Evidence boundary: the cited studies were performed using their own platforms, models and experimental conditions. They do not validate Vimeran™, establish ΔSR performance, or demonstrate clinical utility.
Translational oncology development partners
Develop an experiment with us.
VitraCell is interested in working with translational oncology researchers, drug-development teams, patient-derived model and organoid researchers, CROs and biomarker groups to test whether early longitudinal changes in viable tumor cells relate to established biological response endpoints.
Define the decision
Start with the sponsor's actual development question, sample constraint and required evidence—not a generic technology demonstration.
Set the requirements
Agree on models, compounds, controls, exposure conditions, molecular markers and acceptance criteria before work begins.
Clear the technical gate
Establish repeatability and the relevant response signal in controlled material before advancing to scarce patient-derived samples.
Run a bounded pilot
Execute a defined feasibility study with a research report, transparent limitations and a clear go-or-stop decision.
Best initial fit
Teams with a biological response question worth testing in living cells.
The initial study model is deliberately narrow: define the biological question together, select an appropriate model and perturbation, establish early measurement time points and trusted downstream endpoints, then determine whether the longitudinal signal is worth pursuing further.
- ctDNA and liquid-biopsy developers
- Pharma and biotech translational-medicine teams
- Oncology CRO and biomarker-development groups
- Early clinical development and precision-oncology programs
Built through collaboration
Scientific depth, a clinical feasibility pathway and commercial discipline.
VitraCell's viable-CTC development program is supported by academic engineering and clinical-oncology relationships in South Carolina. Those relationships support the present feasibility pathway; any paired ctDNA/viable-cell translational study will require its own defined scope, endpoints, approvals and agreements.
The company
Founder-led, evidence-driven and built in South Carolina.
VitraCell was founded by Gregory Moore to address a practical gap in precision oncology: ctDNA can provide powerful molecular information, but cell-free DNA does not preserve a living tumor cell for phenotypic study, recovery or downstream cell-based research.
The company is developing Vimeran for viable rare-cell recovery and identity preservation. Vimeran addresses the cell-acquisition problem. VitraCell’s broader research asks what can be learned when the identity of the same living cell is maintained across baseline measurement, controlled perturbation, repeated measurement and downstream characterization. That longitudinal hypothesis remains to be tested, and every broader claim remains gated by evidence.
Gregory MooreFounder and CEO
From viable-cell recovery to cell history