Axion BioSystems announces the acquisition of the intellectual property and assets of CytoTronics
Axion BioSystems acquires high-throughput, high-density CMOS MEA technology from CytoTronics
26 Jan 2026
Axion BioSystems has acquired the intellectual property and assets of CytoTronics, Inc. The purchase brings novel high-density (HD) electrode array technology developed at Harvard University to Axion’s growing product suite and strengthens Axion’s ability to provide researchers with the most advanced tools for disease research and drug discovery.
Bioelectronic assays use biocompatible electronic microsensors embedded in the cell culture surface to continuously monitor living cells, detecting cell number, morphology, and even neural firing and cardiac beating without additional labels or dyes.
CytoTronics’ next-generation CMOS (Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor) microelectrode array (MEA) chips contain over 13 million nanoscale multimodal electrode-based sensors distributed across industry-standard 96- or 384-well microplates, enabling high-throughput screening for drug discovery at unprecedented single-cell resolution.
Co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of CytoTronics, Inc., Jeffrey Abbott, PhD, now Vice President at Axion BioSystems, said, “Axion has a long-standing reputation for delivering intuitive, reliable, and scalable electrophysiology platforms to the cell biology community. That industry leadership makes Axion the ideal home for CytoTronics’ innovative technology. I’m excited to work with the Axion team to commercialize the next generation of high-throughput, high-density CMOS MEA assays for neural and cardiac drug discovery.”
Julien Bradley, Chief Executive Officer at Axion BioSystems, added, “The acquisition of CytoTronics’ technology is highly strategic for Axion, complementing our industry-leading MEA and impedance platforms with high-density arrays without sacrificing high throughput, and leveraging our high-performance software, robust hardware, and customer support infrastructure.”