Apr 28, 2026 2:09 PM
From Plasma Proteomics to Spatial Interactomics: A Conversation with Simon Fredriksson
Date: March 10, 2026
Participants: Simon Fredriksson, PhD (CEO, Pixelgen Technologies), Jason Amsbaugh, MBA (CEO, Samba Scientific), John Corliss, MBA (Carolina Molecular)
Overview
The field of proteomics has long lived in the shadow of the genomic revolution, primarily due to the technical challenges of analyzing proteins at scale. Today, a new paradigm is emerging that moves beyond simply counting proteins in liquid to mapping their complex spatial organization on and within individual cells. We recently sat down with Simon Fredriksson, a pioneer in the field whose career spans the founding of Olink to his current role leading Pixelgen Technologies. In this discussion, we explore the transition from circulating plasma proteomics to “interactomics”—the study of how protein proximity and communication drive human disease.
The Origins of Scalable Proteomics
Jason Amsbaugh: I’d like to start with your background. What sparked your initial interest in proteins, and when did you decide that was the specific “omics” to pursue?
Simon Fredriksson: As a student, I worked with Professor Ulf Landegren at Uppsala University. His lab developed techniques and tools for analyzing genes, and he had an idea for proteins that really struck me as cool. I realized at the time that technology development was my passion. I did my PhD with him, where we developed PLA and published the first version of it in Nature Biotechnology in 2002. We demonstrated the basic principle of using two affinity reagents that bind together, and when they are close, they generate a new DNA sequence that you can amplify and detect. We speculated this would bring scalability to protein detection, drive down costs, and generate massive amounts of data.
At the time, genetics was very popular—we had sequenced the first human genome, and everybody was working on SNPs, Affymetrix, and DNA microarrays. But credit to Ulf Landegren: we thought we should develop something for the future and focus on proteins, as they are the functional components of biology. Everyone focused on genetics because it was technically easier, whereas doing proteomics at scale was much more challenging. We wanted to tackle that problem.
Jason Amsbaugh: In the early days, was this a single-tube, single-protein, primer pair approach?
Simon Fredriksson: That is correct. In the beginning, we also had difficulty sticking DNA onto antibodies with high quality. I ran into another researcher who introduced me to DNA aptamers, and I realized we could extend the aptamer with more DNA sequence to perform the first proof-of-principle experiments. Once we did that, it worked quite quickly.
Building the Field
Jason Amsbaugh: SomaLogic and Olink launched around the same time. Did you view each other as competitors, or was there collaboration?
Simon Fredriksson: It was head-to-head competition, which challenged both of us. We competed for customers’ attention in the marketplace, but we essentially built the field together. There was not a lot of interest in plasma proteomics until we and our clients were able to show its value for drug development. While SomaLogic perhaps had larger diagnostic ambitions initially, Olink’s model was to deploy the technology broadly as a research tool and see where the applications emerged.
Jason Amsbaugh: From a business perspective, do you think having two companies talking about this emerging technology gave you a lift?
Simon Fredriksson: It’s hard to tell. With Pixelgen now, we are quite alone in protein interactomics and clinical research. No one else is doing that, so we have to build it all ourselves without a peer to learn from or build the market with.
Jason Amsbaugh: Olink always seemed to have a more straightforward business model than its primary competitor, operating simply as a research tool. When did you know that you had made it, as a founder, sort of, with Olink?
Simon Fredriksson: I don’t know, that’s in the eye of the beholder, I guess, but I felt we had made it when we had 50 to 100 customers using it regularly, for sure. We knew it was working, people appreciated this, they were buying it, they were repeat customers, so that was pretty much it.
John Corliss: John Corliss: Was the UK Biobank project a major turning point for that “broad deployment” strategy?
Simon Fredriksson: I wasn’t involved in Olink at the time anymore in those years, but of course, that was a huge milestone to be selected for such a gigantic project, and now they’re doing it even larger with 600,000 samples. That really made my day when they announced that, and I’m really looking forward to the results there, of course.
The Pixelgen Shift: Mapping the 3D Interactome
Jason Amsbaugh: What inspired the shift away from circulating plasma proteins and into the spatial organization of proteins within cells?
Simon Fredriksson: In plasma, proteins are swimming around in liquid, but many of the most important drug targets are cell surface receptors. We realized that traditional spatial proteomics relies on microscopes and light, which don’t scale well—you are limited by colors, expensive instruments, and the need to “strip and reload” fluorophores for 2D images.
With Pixelgen, we moved to a DNA-based readout that is naturally three-dimensional. Instead of taking a picture from one angle, we sense the entire sample from all angles simultaneously and let software figure out where the proteins are. This bypasses the need for cameras and mirrors. With the recent announcement of Roche’s Axelios sequencer—which offers 10x the throughput at 10x lower cost—the scalability of this chemistry becomes massive.
The "Fourth Omics" and New Druggable Targets
Jason Amsbaugh: How are you defining “protein interactomics” as a new dimension of omics, and how does that influence drug discovery?
Simon Fredriksson: Diseases aren’t caused by proteins just swimming in the blood; they are caused by faulty cell function, and that function is executed by proteins working in combinations and complexes. By looking at how proteins are organized on the cell surface, we add a fourth omics dimension.
This is particularly exciting for the druggable space. If you search for targets based only on abundance, you have a limited pool. But if you look for targets based on protein interactions—using bispecific antibodies—the druggable surfaceome of a cell becomes exponentially larger. It opens up a whole new source of potential drug targets that were previously invisible.
Future Frontiers: Autoimmunity and Protein Sequencing
Jason Amsbaugh: Looking ahead, what are the most significant clinical hurdles or technologies you are following?
Simon Fredriksson: Autoimmune diseases like lupus and multiple sclerosis are a massive unmet need. Unlike oncology, they aren’t mutation-driven, so there is no circulating tumor DNA counterpart. We still don’t have good molecular markers, and it takes an average of four years for a patient to get an accurate diagnosis. I believe spatial interactomics will be key to cracking that.
Technologically, I’m also watching protein sequencing. Once companies like Quantum-Si can accurately sequence all 20 amino acids quickly, it will change the lab landscape again. For Pixelgen, we want to move beyond being just a tool provider to being a “solutions provider” that solves the mystery of cell function mechanisms.
Conclusion
As Simon noted, the next generation of clinical solutions will be driven by “riding the wave of next-gen sequencing and AI” to decode the complex graph networks of biological data. The transition from discovery-phase interactomics to clinical-ready diagnostics is where true impact occurs—moving beyond tool provision to becoming a “solutions provider” that finally solves the mysteries of cell function.
At Carolina Molecular, we are proud to support innovators like Pixelgen Technologies by serving as a technology facilitator, helping to translate high-level spatial insights into standardized, actionable workflows. Whether we are identifying novel bispecific drug targets or working to close the four-year diagnostic gap for autoimmune patients, our mission remains consistent: ensuring the right treatment reaches the right patient at the right time. We invite you to join us as we continue to move these revolutionary technologies forward.