Oct. 25, 2018: U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Thursday [Oct. 25] visited IsoPlexis, a research center in Branford dedicated to fighting cancer and other tough diseases by producing the most precise detection systems. IsoPlexis was the first ever company to be highlighted as "Murphy's Innovator of the Month." During his visit, Murphy toured the facility with founders Sean Mackay and Dr. Rong Fan and then held a town hall with employees. Murphy was joined on his visit with Branford First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove.

"This is another example of a biotech explosion here in Connecticut. We have just an amazing opportunity to capture jobs in this emerging field. Obviously, the proximity to Yale is a huge benefit, and I wanted to be here to really highlight some of the amazing innovation happening in Connecticut and convince my colleagues to put more money into research, into more good tax policy to incentivize companies staying here in the United States," said Murphy during his visit.

"We are honored to have been chosen as the Innovator of the Month. Cancer and auto-immune diseases have tremendous unmet therapeutic and diagnostic need, and we are excited to continue to execute on our vision to improve precision medicine in cancer, and beyond, through our innovative cellular detection technologies. Starting our company jointly with Yale and then growing it in the broader Connecticut ecosystem has offered us access to experienced scientific and engineering staff, angel investors, and longer term partners. The proximity to both Boston and New York City make Branford and the surrounding New Haven area a fantastic hub for life sciences companies,"said Sean Mackay, CEO and co-founder of IsoPlexis.

IsoPlexis was founded in 2013 by Sean Mackay and Dr. Rong Fan of Yale University, with help from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. IsoPlexis utilizes technologies developed by Dr. Fan and Dr. James Heath, Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, to detect responses from thousands of individual patient cells and effectively target personalized cancer therapies for patients in need.