Prime Cytometry, LLC

From a young age, our Founder and Lead Consultant, Adam Chicoine, has had a passion for science and a drive to make an impact in the treatment and cure of diseases. As a teenager, he tragically lost his 25 year old cousin to malignant melanoma and his grandfather to pancreatic cancer within 2 years of each other. These losses left a lasting impact on him and it was then that he found his calling to pursue a career in biology and medicine.

In 2002, Adam attended the University of Vermont and received a BSc in Microbiology, with concentrations in Immunology, Cellular Biology, Molecular Genetics, Chemistry, & Biopsychology. During his time at UVM he worked as a Research Assistant in the Greenblatt Lab at the Vermont Cancer Center studying hereditary links in familial melanoma patients. This experience helped reveal his affinity for research and the desire to understand the complexities of disease.

In 2009, Adam moved to Boston, MA to pursue a job at the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard. It was there that he was first introduced to Flow Cytometry, working under the direction of Michael Waring, MSc. Adam quickly learned how powerful a tool Flow Cytometry is, to analyze and collect pure cell populations of interest, and it’s ability to support advancement in many different research disciplines. It was also during this time that Adam gained valuable insights into how core facilities are developed, to provide not only the technical expertise necessary to maintain and operate flow cytometers, but also the importance of education, training, and standardization to empower scientists with the knowledge necessary for successful experiment design, execution, and analyses. His contributions led to co-authorships in Nature, Science, and Immunity.

In 2014, Adam was presented with the opportunity to create and manage a new state-of-the-art Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting core facility at Brigham & Women’s hospital within the Department of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, called the Human Immunology Center (HIC). Working in partnership with core Directors, Michael Brenner, MD, Deepak Rao, MD PhD, & Kevin Wei, MD PhD, Adam helped to develop the core facility to support over 100 research scientists from various departments throughout the Mass General Brigham network, as well as Dana Farber Cancer Institute and industry partners. During this time, Adam gained useful experience in collaborating with scientists from diverse backgrounds, handling a variety of different cell types, and a multitude of downstream applications of flow cytometry and cell sorting, including the integration of single-cell RNA-sequencing.

In 2017, Adam helped to create and manage the BWH Single Cell Genomics Core (SCGC). The core specialized in 10X Genomics platform technology and supported research scientists with the expertise and instrumentation necessary to provide cutting-edge bioinformatic analyses with single-cell resolution. At the time, only a few labs in the area had access to these machines and the SCGC quickly became the leading academic core service provider in the Greater Boston area. By integrating Fluorescent Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) with the precision and insights that single-cell genomics can offer, the two technologies were a perfect marriage to deliver revolutionary datasets to scientists from labs of any size and experience level.

In 2021, based on the success of each individual core and the logical integration of services, Adam helped lead the merger of the HIC & SCGC to form the new Center for Cellular Profiling (CCP) at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. By streamlining technical and administrative operations, the core improved it’s processes and became more efficient, which gave the financial stability to continue to integrate the latest technologies and stay ahead of an evolving field. This was showcased by the ability to expand the CCP to include Spatial Transcriptomics as a core service. During his tenure at BWH, contributions led to the HIC/SCGC/CCP earning the status of lead patient sample processing and cell sorting site and lead single-cell RNA sequencing site for the Accelerating Medicines Partnership: Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (AMP RA/SLE). In addition, discoveries and methods developed led to co-authorships in Nature, Nature Immunology, Nature Genetics, and Rheumatology.

In 2022, Adam made the decision to leave academia in pursuit of career development opportunities in industry. He was tasked with creating and developing the Immune Profiling Platform (IPP) for GentiBio, Inc., a cell therapy company specializing in engineered regulatory T-cells. The IPP was designed to provide a seamless end-to-end RNA-sequencing platform, complete with a state-of-the-art flow cytometry and cell sorting core, RNA-sequencing partnership, and bioinformatic data pipeline, to provide the Discovery Research teams with a highly efficient and effective method for producing gene expression data and insights necessary to advance it’s therapeutics. While at GentiBio, Adam also founded and led the Genti Flow Consortium, a monthly meeting for a core group of flow cytometry specialists to provide cross-functional alignment opportunities, develop training materials and best practices guidance for personnel, and troubleshoot data analyses and experimental design strategy. In addition, and in collaboration with the IT department, he helped establish and maintain an extensive flow cytometry antibody inventory management system, further improving cross-functional communication and alignment, centralizing the ordering process, leveraging institutional discounts from major vendors, and decreasing overall inventory costs significantly. This experience provided an invaluable opportunity to better understand the approach to research and development operations in an industry setting. Contributions led to pre-clinical advancements of cell therapies in key indications, a co-authorship in JCI Insights, and co-author presentations at the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) and The American Association of Immunologists (AAI).

In 2024, Adam founded Prime Cytometry, LLC to provide his expertise and experience in Flow Cytometry and RNA-sequencing platform operations to the Greater Boston community. Given the challenges many companies face these days, navigating volatile fundraising environments and shifting needs and prioritization, he sought to offer his services as a consultant to those companies who could not employ full-time specialist roles, but had significant gaps to fill on an as needed basis.